A Heart Never Still
by SorenDevin
Summary: Since he was born, Roxas, a Nobody, has been trained to protect Sora, his Original, in return for a purpose in life but death is always at the end of this lethal exchange.
1. Born To Die

I didn't really take notice of the massive crowds that soon engulfed me. The small hallway of the school became too cramped and I had to squeeze through. Suddenly, a hand grabbed the back of my collar and I was pulled down to the ground. The work and papers in my hands were thrown into the air, fluttering to the floor far away from me. The crowd stopped and began to laugh, pointing at me like I was some sort of animal.

I sighed and lay down on the floor. High school, what a horrible place it was. I glanced over my shoulder to see Xigbar and Xaldin walking away, clutching at their stomachs as they bellowed their laughter so openly into the halls. I glanced around and attempted to pathetically gather my work again, but as the other students began to disperse, they trampled on them and left them unreadable.

"You're all really too cruel," someone cried into the crowd.

I looked up to see Axel, his arms crossed and his hair like fire against the white ceiling. He frowned and held out his hand, but grabbed my collar and pulled my up on to my feet impatiently. He wore his uniform in a mess, as usual, with his tie loosely done, his white shirt crumpled and his black trousers baggy. Behind him, Xion smiled at me, her soft eyes telling me that it was ok. She wore her uniform in a neater way, with her tie done up properly and her shirt clean.

"Need help?" she asked. Before I could answer, she already began to pick up the muddy papers. "You really need to start looking more around you, Roxas."

"You could've got seriously hurt," Axel added, wiping away a little of the dust that had already began to cling to the shoulder of my shirt. "Those guys are always teasing you. Want me to knock them down a peg?"

I shook my head and pushed away his hand. "No. Doesn't matter." I took the papers from Xion's hands with a muttered word of thanks and then left them, annoyed at myself for being such an easy target for those older guys humiliation.

I stalked into my class room and shuffled my way to the chair at the back. I hung my head close to the table, allowing my hair to fall around my face, and pretended that I was busy with writing on my muddy paper. I was vaguely aware of people watching me. There were a few giggles here, a few muttered words there, a few snide comments, but none came near me. I was happy about that, at least.

The lesson started and all attention was taken away from me. For a full hour, I just sat at the back of the class and watched as the clouds rolled by. The slight ticking of the clock on the wall made its way through to my mind and I found myself mixing that with the rhythm of the movements of the clouds. The bell rang and I jumped in my seat. As always, I waited for my classmates to leave before I left myself.

Axel and Xion waited outside, welcoming smiles on their faces. I attempted to smile back, instantly regretting how I had treated them before class had started.

"You sure took your sweet time getting out of there, didn't you?" Axel laughed, slapping my back and shaking my shoulder.

I allowed his hand to push me to wherever he wanted. I kept quiet while he and Xion talked, laughed and argued happily. Our days were always like this. I was bad at socializing and never really made any friends. I had only moved her a few weeks ago and to be honest, I didn't really remember how I met Axel and Xion. I vaguely remembered them just randomly coming up to save me when Xigbar had tripped me up.

I flinched as I felt a pair of eyes bore into me. I turned slowly and saw a short kid around my age with brown spiky hair just watching me. Time seemed to still as our eyes connected, and a sense of deep and deadly dread grew within my heart, sending my thoughts into a wild whirl and my mouth to dry up quickly. As he saw me look he smiled and waved slightly. But by then I looked away.

How could I have been so stupid? He saw me! I gulped and walked a little faster, detaching myself a little from Axel and Xion. They just simply shrugged and waved it away, but I could still feel that kid's eyes on me. Sora… that was his name – the dreaded name that would be my end, but the name that was also my beginning.

We turned the corner and his gaze was immediately cut off. Relief flooded through me.

* * *

After school, I put a black hoodie on, pulling up the hood to hide my head, and made my way through the streets in the middle of the night.

The darkness clung to the streets, occasionally running away from the flickering lights of the broken lamps. The biting breeze swept through the emptiness, gently passing me with only a little force. The buildings on both sides of the streets loomed over my, blocking out the starry sky and blending in with the dark clouds that threatened to let loose its teary rain soon. I pushed myself faster to avoid if such a downfall was to happen while I still walked.

I came to a small dark wooden door and knocked on it in rhythm with the secret knock we had made. The door opened a minute after my last knock. The person quickly ushered me in, locking and bolting the door as soon as I was in safely.

I took down my hood and strode passed yet another door and into a room filled with people around me age, sometimes younger and rarely older, just lounging about on chairs and with drinks in their hands. Music pumped through the air as chuckles and giggles rang through in little bits, very nearly muffled by the notes and the vibrations. Dim lights were scattered upon the walls, emitting a strangely mysterious light, only just illuminating the people underneath. The lights cast hundreds of shadows on to the floor, creating a mess of darkness as they overlapped in the middle of the room.

No one took notice as I walked further into the room. I leant on one of the tables in the corner and asked the person sitting behind it, "Where is Diz?"

He glanced over me, an eyebrow raised as he probably knew what I meant, and nodded to the door besides him. "He's upstairs, as always. You found it?"

I stood up again and nodded nonchalantly, and said nothing more. I opened the door and closed it softly behind me. The music was instantly cut off and I was left alone in a small hallway towards a set of stairs. I'd never been up those before, but I had no reason to. Only those who had found what they were looking for were then able to make this journey.

I took a deep breath to fill my lungs and calmly ambled to the stairs. The cold air instantly attacked my bare face and I was taken aback for a second, but I pressed myself forwards. The stairs continued for about two floors, but then came to another door. I knocked nervously and waited for a reply.

"Come in," came a booming and husky voice.

I bit my lip and crushed my hand into a fist, digging my nails into my palms, before I pushed the door open and was welcomed by a man dressed in red and black. Something like a red bandage and black belts surrounded his face, with only slits for his sharp yellow eyes to look out and his mouth to give me a sly smile.

He knew why I was here, and I knew what he would say. II had been working my way up to this for years, and here it was finally. But I wasn't ready for this to end. Please, just not yet.

"Welcome, Roxas, to the end of your years of waiting," he whispered into the still and silent air, sending small shudders of fear and anxiety through me. "Nowhere to hide now and you must face what you've done."

I nodded and gulped.

"You've found him?" he asked gently, seeing the look of terror in my face. He had seen this over and over again, each individual that had once stepped foot in that fake happiness downstairs to come up her and be told this in turn, over and over again, and then again, and over again after that. It must have hurt him to tell the people he cared for, the people whom he provided this fake life for, that their life was only made to be ready to die later on.

"Yes," I answered, my voice steady and ready for my judgement, the only judgement there was. "I've found him. I've found my original."

"You know what you must do now, right?"

I nodded again. "Yeah." I had to protect him. I had to protect Sora. And then I had to die for him. Thus was the fate of the Nobodies – to always protect and, in the end, die for their Originals with whom they shared a special connection. My Original had been found, and now I had to die for him to save him.

"You know the rules. You know what you've been born to do."

Now it was my turn.

**A/N: **_How did you like it? :) It may seem the same as the game right now, though with the difference of them being in school, but I promise it will differ from that! Nobodies and Originals are different in this, as you've probably seen a little here, and I've stuck with the same characters but given them new roles. I hope you like it and thank you for reading this far! :)_


	2. Originally Named

I trudged into school with my head hung low, avoiding eye contact with anyone that dared step near me.

After last night, I didn't want to see Sora around anywhere. We only ever had one lesson together, but even then we never exchanged conversation. So why did he wave yesterday like he did? And why did he just watch me?

I didn't really care if I had to be honest. All I knew now was that I had to risk my life to save him, just so that my life wasn't worthless, and in the end I'd have to die by his hand anyway. I didn't know how to go about this. What did I do?

I rubbed my eyes as I felt the tears push against my eyelids, stopping them from falling.

Rushing inside, I practically ran towards my form before anyone I knew could catch a glimpse of me. I didn't even want to see Axel or Xion, and normally I didn't have to think much when they were around me. They calmed me. Their presence just helped me feel less lonely and they never made me feel constricted, or like my life really was just worthless. But today, I didn't even want to go to school, though I needed to take my role seriously now that I found Sora – found my _Original_.

I hid myself behind a book and blocked out the world. I learnt that if I stayed away from the rest of the class, they wouldn't bother me, so it was a mutual understanding.

But there came a noise from the door, so I looked up to see Saix and Xigbar standing there, both looking directly at me and curling their fingers to call me over.

I wanted to pretend that I hadn't seen them and continue reading, but I knew that that wouldn't make them go away. It would probably make them angry and drag me out, so I got up from my seat and padded my way nervously over.

"There you are, squirt," Xigbar greeted.

Saix just rolled his eyes and sighed.

They both nodded their heads in a direction as a sign for me to follow and left for the hallway. I did as they had silently instructed and obediently walked behind.

It was a while before they said anything to me. They made little conversation between themselves, but nothing had been directed towards me as of yet. So I allowed myself to glance around and think about what was to come. Why were they asking for me and where were they taking me?

We reached the science block outside, a building completely detached from the main branch of the building for some reason, in a nice secluded place where smokers would normally retreat.

I pressed myself up against the wall and breathed in deeply. They face me and looked me over, their arms crossed and a sly smile creeping upon their pale lips.

"Now, now, then, kid," Xigbar grinned. "How's your face after that face-plant yesterday?"

"Fine," I squeaked.

"Xigbar, please," Saix hushed. "Are you alright" he asked me seriously.

I nodded and found that I was able to actually look him in the eyes. He seemed a lot gentler than Xigbar and his other friends were. What was someone like him doing with people like that?

"Good," he commented.

"What have you brought me here for?" I asked, my voice steadily growing in strength as I became aware that I was alone with them. If I showed weakness, who would help me? No, I needed to stand up for myself.

"We're here to ask you something."

Suddenly, Saix's gentle expression vanished and Xigbar's face turned vicious. I had never seen someone look the way they did at that moment.

"We're looking for someone called Diz," Xigbar explained, his voice harsh and threatening. "Ever heard of him?"

My heart suddenly burst into a fit of beating, threatening to break free from my chest. I almost gasped, but I held it in and looked straight into their eyes as I summoned all of my weak courage.

"Who?" I questioned. I hoped that my expressions didn't give anything away.

"Diz," Saix pronounced more clearly and slowly, but in his eyes I could see that he knew I was keeping quiet.

Inside my head, a conflict of emotions ran through. What was I supposed to do? Yesterday was the first and probably the last time I had met him, but you don't have to meet someone face to face to feel admiration for them. He had set up that place for us Nobodies so we could forget about our roles and feel like we were worth something. He did everything for us, helped us, told us how to do what we couldn't, felt sympathy for us when no one else would and treated us like humans, not just people destined to be discarded. I didn't have to meet him to know that he was worth me lying to hide him.

"Never heard of him," I lied, suddenly finding courage in knowing that I stood between these two and him. I didn't even know what they wanted with him yet, but by their faces it wasn't just to drop by and say hello.

Xigbar grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me off of the ground, slamming me against the wall and leaning forwards so that our faces nearly touched.

"Listen here, kid," he warned. "You are going to tell us, right?"

"What do you need him for?" No use denying it then.

"To talk," he spat.

I whispered, "Liar."

He slammed me against the wall again and dots ran passed my vision. I tightly closed my eyes and held my breath and I saw him raise his fist.

"Xigbar, that's quite enough," Saix demanded weakly, not really caring what he did but wanted to act the part.

"Stop!"

We all froze for a second and turned our gazes to the other side of the block. There stood Sora, panting with a rock clutched in his shaking hand. His attempted at a glare was pathetic really, I almost smiled.

Xigbar's grip on my shirt loosened a little.

"What the hell are you doing here, shrimp?" he said.

Saix simply sighed yet again and rubbed the bridge of his nose in stress.

Sora threw the rock gingerly and it bounced off of Xigbar's shoulder.

He let go of me entirely and I fell down to the floor. He picked up the rock and was about to throw it back but I jumped up and ran in front of Sora just as the rock was hurled into the air. It connected with my stomach and I curled in on myself as pain exploded everywhere.

Saix tutted with, "Xigbar, that was too far," but they both left without a second glance over their shoulders at me.

"Are you alright?" Sora gasped.

Despite my doubling over and groaning in pain with my eyes shut, I nodded and lied through me clenched teeth, "Perfect," with heavy sarcasm. Sora attempted to pick me up, but I swatted away his hand with a flinch and lay down on the cold hard ground.

"Leave me alone," I begged, gasping for breath. With each intake, my stomach was sent into a whirl of more intense pain.

"No," he muttered.

"Just go," I snapped.

"No!" he shouted back. He sat down next to me and watched me intently. "I'll wait until you can get up and then I'm taking you to a teacher."

I moaned and shook my head. If he was getting like this just over something small like being hit by a rock, how would he reacted had I gotten a dangerous injury? It was inevitable that a day like that should come.

He stayed silent for a while, but sometimes his mouth gaped open like he desperately wanted to say something. I often glanced up at him and wondered what it was that he wanted to get through, but I never asked - Mainly because I didn't have the breath to, but also because if he was reluctant to say it, then it must have meant it wasn't an easy subject.

I bit my lip and smiled a little to myself. "I'm ready," I mumbled quietly. "Can you help me walk?"

A huge smile beamed on his face and he nodded enthusiastically. With a hand on my waste and my arm around his shoulders, we helped me walk back to the main school building.

I glanced at his bright face and something inside me ached. My Original was such a cheery person, and I was just… I was just someone that was waiting to be thrown away.

**A/N: **_I hope the difference is starting to show a little more now. Thank for you all of those who have read the first chapter! :) It means a lot. And for those two who have favoured it, thank you so much! It really pushed me to make this next one a lot faster than I normally would have, haha. Thank you for those who are continuing to read it and I hope you like it! :) I'll have a lot more to say later XD_


	3. A Good Heart

In the sick room, I lay across the chairs and just rested. The pain had begun to subside, thankfully, and I was sure it wouldn't be long before I was fine again. I almost chuckled to myself at the realisation of how hard Xigbar must have thrown it to cause this much of an injury.

Sora paced back and forth of the door and where I lay. He peeped out into the hallway, then looked down at me, and back to the door again. He bit his lips and uttered things to himself.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Shouldn't we get a teacher?" he inquired. "Or at least call your parents?"

"Don't worry about it," I waved away. "I'll be fine soon, and besides, if you called my parents, nobody would pick up."

He halted in his pace and stared at me with a mouth slightly open. "Really?"

I could see he was itching to ask, so I replied, "Yeah. I don't have them. I live on my own. My parents died when I was young." Actually, I didn't know. I never met them. They gave me away when they found out I was a Nobody. Who wanted a child that they knew was just born to die?

"Oh…" Sora whispered. "I…. I'm sorry."

The right side of my lips tugged up into a half-smile. "No worries. I didn't know them."

He seemed at a loss as to what to say and just stood there, gaping like a fish again. I just shook my head and rested a hand behind my head as I slowly closed my eyes.

Of course, the peace wasn't kept. There came loud thuds of running from outside in the hallway and the door burst open. Sora shrieked and jumped out of the way, while I opened my right eye a little and saw the flaming red hair appear before me.

"You alright?" Axel exclaimed, kneeling besides me and stopping his hands short from touching me.

I nodded. "I'm fine, Axel. Don't worry. I'll be to the next lesson."

"You shouldn't be worrying about that!" he argued.

Xion appeared from behind him, her sparkling eyes filled with worry. She gave a small frown and started to stroke my hair.

"But I'm fine," I insisted.

Axel sighed and sat down on the floor with his back up against the seats I lay on. He rested his head backwards to he looked at me upside down. Xion followed and sat down next to him, her hand outstretched for me to take. Sora simply watched, his face twisted into a pained expression.

I was about to ask what was wrong, but he nodded and smiled sadly, leaving without another word.

"Who was he?" Axel asked bluntly.

"Dunno," I exhaled. "He found me and brought me here."

I wondered, why did he walk away like that? I shrugged it away and pushed it out of my mind. The greater distance we had between each other was better. That was another rule for our connection; only the Nobodies had any idea what the Nobodies and Originals were about and what they had to do. The Originals never knew anything about the weight they put on the Nobodies' shoulders, and it was always going to be like that. Even after the death of the Nobodies, the Originals were never told.

As I walked home later on, once the bell for the end of the day had chimed, I rubbed my stomach and relaxed as the touch didn't cause any pain. Axel cast a worried look towards me from the corner of his eyes. I sent a look that told him I was alright.

"I can guess who did this," Axel grumbled.

"Don't do anything, Axel," I warned. "It was just a joke they played."

"Just a joke?" he scoffed. "We need to do something to stop this little 'joke'."

Xion grabbed Axel's sleeve and growled, "Don't, Axel. Instead of stopping it, you could get hurt too."

"But-"

"_And_ have you thought that maybe it wouldn't stop? What if your interference made it worse?"

That shut Axel up. He looked down at me with a sorry expression, caught between the need to protect me and to hold back for fear it might just make everything worse like Xion said. His eyes glanced down to my stomach and I saw the thoughts of what may come next cross his mind. But this was Axel and the worst case scenario was what he thought.

I felt eyes watching the back of my mind. I turned, but the street was empty of people except us. I swallowed hard as my eyes roamed the alleys, searching for any form of movement. But all was still except the few branches of the trees that swayed in the light breeze.

I flinched as a few droplets fell from the sky. Looking up, dark clouds rolled in from the South-West. The air turned heavy and the temperature suddenly declined.

"Ah, don't rain now!" Axel complained.

As the rain began to pour, they ran for shelter and I stayed in the open, watching the sky slowly cover up. My hair clung to my face as it darkened from the water that rolled down my face and slipped off of my jaw.

"Are you stupid?" Axel called, chuckling under his shelter.

"Roxas, come here!" Xion giggled.

I ignored the stares I felt from this imaginary stalker and ran with a smile to my friends. If I was going to have to spend the remainder of my small life continuously putting myself in front of danger for that kid, then I needed to live for now while I still could. After all, Sora didn't seem to be the type to avoid danger.

In the middle of the night, when I couldn't sleep, I left my apartment and took a stroll through the town, my long black hoodie hiding me in the shadows and my hood far over my head to hide my head.

It still poured with rain, but in the sky the stars shone brightly through the breaks in the covering. Their light supplied a clear way for me to follow along my familiar route to the blub where all the Nobodies hung out.

I gave the secret knock and was let in. Inside, even at this hour, it was still incredibly busy, with dozens of people just hanging about and laughing. I sat in the corner, still with my hood up, and silently watched them all. Some of these had already found their Originals and some still had that coming. Some of these I may not see again after today. Some were new. But none seemed sad, none looked depressed, none sat in a corner crying when they knew their fate.

The door to Diz's room creaked open and a young girl, probably the same age as me, walked out. Her expression showed her sadness, but she had a smile that told the world that she accepted it all. Hey blond hair cascaded over one shoulder, and her eyes shone with a gentler defiance. My eyes were glued to her.

But she walked across the room and left just as quickly as she had come. I sighed and rested my forehead on the table.

"Everyone else is dancing. Why aren't you?"

I looked up and saw a guy probably about my age too. He had a mad shine to his eyes, and his mischievous grin made me instantly nervous.

"Don't like dancing."

At that he laughed and sat down. "Neither do I," he replied. He held out his hand and introduced, "The name's Hayner. Yours?"

My nervousness vanished and a warm feeling overcame me. I gripped his hand in mine and said, "Roxas. It's nice to meet you."

He clapped a hand on my shoulder and gave me a massive smile, one that reached his open eyes and caused his blond wavy bangs to fall over his forehead. "Why are you alone? Shouldn't we be living it up in our last moments?"

I took in a sharp breath and felt something sink within me. This guy- he hadn't even said that as a joke. He really had already accepted the fact that we didn't have long left, and I was jealous of that. I couldn't let it go, especially not since now I had found my end. It was on my mind all the time, but he didn't care.

His smile faltered as he saw the look on my face and realisation crossed in expression. "You've found your Original," he stated.

I nodded and gave a sad smile back. "Yeah."

He glanced around us and shifted closer, his eyes narrowed with curiosity. "How do you _know_ when you've found your Original?" he whispered to me.

I bit my lip in thought and wondered that myself. How had I known that? "Um… I guess you just _know_. It just _happens_." When I had first seen Sora, how had I known? Something inside me just told me. Don't get me wrong, there wasn't some explosion inside me that told me, or some spiritual thing that formed. I just felt like there was something about the two of us, like we were _connected_. But it wasn't just a happy feeling (no matter how much I denied it, I did feel happy slightly), but it was a sad connection and there was something that just collapsed inside of me. I had found my other half, the one I was destined to meet, but it just hit home that I was counting my last days.

"What's he or she like?" Hayner interrupted my thought.

"He," I replied, "is kind of… clumsy. An idiot, really. But…" I paused as I remembered how he tried to save me from Xigbar and Saix, and that brought a small grin to my face. "But he's got a good heart."

He lay back and thought about what I said. "I want to meet my Original soon. I want to see what they're like."

I hesitated, twiddling my thumbs as my reluctance to ask him what I wanted to began to grow. But I pushed those struggling words out and asked, "Why are you so intent on finding the person that will kill you?"

His eyes widened but his smile still stood strong. "Because I know it's not their fault that that has to happen."

**A/N:** _I hadn't expected this to be as popular as it has been! With the one review, three favs and two follows, I'm just so thankful for it. :) Thank you all very much for reading it and liking it! I had this chapter made already, and I know it's not very exciting, but it was a chapter that was necessary. It'll get more exciting I promise! :D_


	4. Missing

_Deep within the shadow infested forest, where no mortal man had stepped before, whispered the words of the demented. A cry of torturous pain sounded through the still night air, rattling the ground and altering the light from the starless sky where the moon hung._

_I stood watching the trees, my body weak and my mind ringing like bells. I looked down at my body to see the blood pouring from the wounds I had gained, but I could feel nothing. The cold air bit at my exposed flesh, bringing forth the goose bumps to form on the surface of my skin. _

"_If you want him alive," whispered a deep, croaky voice that laughter hid behind, "then come get him."_

_I swallowed back my reluctance and slowly stepped towards the cover of the trees, the weight of the situation weighing heavily upon me. _

"_I've given you everything you wanted!" I cried out into the darkness, a tremble of fear spreading through me. "Please, let him go!" _

_But that only triggered manic laughter that echoed between the trees. Every fibre in my being screamed at me to run back, forget my friend and just live on for however long I wanted to, but I knew I couldn't do that. How could I do something like that? He had saved me. I needed to save him. _

_So I ran faster into what I knew could be my end, persistent in chasing after death and looking it in the eyes. If I knew I was going to end anyway, why not face it? _

_I ran on, but stopped as I saw the floor that had begun to stain with blood. _

* * *

I screamed as I bolted up right in my bed. The darkness of my room was what greeted my sudden escape from my nightmares. The cold air of the room preyed on me and I shuddered. I pulled my knees close up to my chest and hid my face in the covers over my legs.

I wanted to cry, to get it all out and maybe even scream, but my body began to grow rigid and I wouldn't dare to move.

I didn't want to think about what that dream meant and I didn't want to acknowledge that I had had it. Maybe all the stress had gotten to me. Maybe I was just over reacting.

But something told me that that was all a lie I was telling to assure myself. That dream was more than a dream, and I didn't know how far in the future it was coming.

In the end, I couldn't get back to sleep, so I put on my black hoodie and, without even taking off my pyjama bottoms, and walked out of my apartment to go for a walk.

The empty streets welcomed my appearance with the lines of lights that erupted from the lamps. I walked along the lonely paths and watched ahead of me, realising quickly that the night was colder than I had thought and I hugged myself in an attempt to warm up. My breath grew in front of my face and my cheeks prickled with the cold air.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something black dash passed my quickly. I turned, but nothing was there. Normally, I would have ignored it and thought nothing of it, but my dream had spooked me so much that this made me jump and I rushed further up the street.

Behind me, I thought I could hear the clicking of shows follow close behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see nothing there. But my heart raced against my chest and my hands clenched at my hoodie, pulling down my hood further over my head as a weak form of imaginary protection.

I wanted to convince myself that nothing was there, that I should go back and get into bed, but I was scared to turn around and with each step I took I was getting further and further away from my sanctuary and so my fear grew inside my stomach.

I heard someone whisper my name, but I wasn't sure on whether or not it was inside my mind, made of an imaginary paranoia that I felt, or if it really came from someone who was following me. I looked back again, but for the second time I saw nothing there. Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone watching me. But not only that, it felt like there was more than just the one. There were more, and they were all around me.

I stopped in the middle of the street, unsure on whether to go on for fear that they were waiting for me. My knees buckled and I scanned around for anything that moved, but to no avail. There was nothing, and I began to think that maybe I had actually gone completely insane.

But I didn't take that chance so I began to run as fast as I could down the street, away from which I had come. Every so often, I glanced behind, but there was still nothing. But I could hear the running footsteps following. I glanced up at the top of the buildings I passed, and nothing still. It shouldn't have scared me as much as it did, but I had never felt terror like that before.

Suddenly, I was stopped in my tracks and the shadow I had seen before engulfed me. I fell backwards onto the floor and hit my head against the pavement, but with a simple feel I know there was no blood or injury.

With hesitation, I sat up and gulped. Before me stood a man in a long black coat. A hood covered his head and only a small portion of his face could be seen. A half smile, pulling at one side of his mouth, formed on his lips.

Two others who looked just like him emerged from the shadows of the alleyways. They all smirked at me with the same half smile and a menacing aura immersed them. One grabbed my arms and pinned me to the ground while another pinned down my legs. The first raised his hand and I flinched away, tightly closing my eyes.

All I felt then was pain and confusion. I didn't understand who these people were or what they wanted from me. I had wondered if they had anything to do with Sora. It wasn't uncommon or rare to hear about attacks on the Nobodies by a gang who wanted to get to their Originals. We were there to guard them, so it was easy to understand to get to them you needed to get through their protectors.

If that was the case, I needed to stop this and go to Sora, and quickly. I needed to protect him! I needed to stop them from getting to him!

But when I opened my eyes, I didn't know where I was. It seemed to be in some sort of alley, but my vision was blurry and my head groaned in agony. I tried to get up, but my muscles screamed in pain and some I wasn't sure I could feel. I lay back and gasped for breath. Along my skin, in a lot of places of my body, I felt a warm liquid flood. Blackness took over my vision and my breathing became ragged.

"Will that stop him?"

I stilled as I heard the deep voice coming from the mouth of the alley, keeping my eyes closed.

"If that doesn't, we'll just have to do it again, but beat him harder," another voice whispered back.

"I don't think that was a good idea," complained the third. "He wasn't even ready. It doesn't feel like a defeat."

"Who cares? Since when are we fair?" chuckled the second. There came a loud bang from somewhere and I jumped a little.

"Whatever," sighed the first. "Tomorrow, we make our move. You sure you have the right information?"

"It was hard enough to get information on this kid, so anything compared to that is easy," replied the second.

Their footsteps faded away and I sighed out the breath I had kept in. So there was more to this than juts randomly beating up a lone guy. But who were they?

I waited until I could feel some of the pain begin to slip away before I attempted to get up again. But the pain was too much to bare and I slowly felt my conscience begin to fade.

**A/N: **_I'm not really sure about this chapter, but I needed what happened in it so I had to put it up . Sorry if you didn't like it, it wasn't my best, but I hope the next chapter will make it all better! haha. Thank you for reading and thank you so much for all the reviews, the favs and the follows! It is greatly appreciated! :)_


	5. Gone Sweet Home

I woke up with a cruel wrench back to the reality from my darkness by the sound of voices. I sat up and saw the sun rising in the sky, painting an array of bright and beautiful colours that covered the open. But the alley was hidden by the fading shadows that had not been chased away by the sun light yet.

At the bottom of the alley mouth passed several people, all early morning walkers. They had no idea that they walked passed where a boy bled. But I didn't want them to know either. I didn't think I could stand the attention, not when I knew I had to get somewhere quickly.

I wiggled my fingers and found that my pain had begun to subside, but it still ran through me like fire and caused me to flinch. I attempted to get up, with great difficulty, and collapsed against the wall. I gasped in my breaths as I found they began to get harder to draw in.

But I didn't care about the pain. I limped my way out to the start of the alley, ambling into the street, and appeared in front of the small crowd. They glanced once at me, then stopped and their eyes widened as some even gasped.

I looked down at myself and found that the pyjama bottoms I still wore had been covered in blood, stale now after the hours. But my black hoodie hid the blood because of its dark colour, though I could feel the hardness it had made of the material after it had dried. I pulled up my hood and scuttled off slowly. They didn't follow and they didn't help, but I didn't blame them. Who wanted to get involved with someone who was bleeding and obviously didn't want the help? To them, I must have looked like someone who had been in a gang fight, and to only get involved would cause more trouble than they were ready for.

One woman did stubbornly follow me and ask me what was wrong, ignoring my constant attempts to push her away, but it was easy for her to chase after a fleeing person who could barely even walk. A man then came and took her away, continuously repeating to her that if I wasn't going to tell her after the first time she asked, another ten questions wouldn't make much of a good difference.

It normally took about ten minutes to walk to school, but with each stumble and with each collapse from my weakness, it took me up to an hour to arrive at the school gates. It hadn't opened yet, but already several cars of the teachers flooded the car park.

I hid in a hedge by the cars and waited. It was yet another hour before the students began to filter through the gates. They all passed me without knowing I hid only feet away. None seemed to notice the trail of drops of blood that led straight towards me.

Sora stood out from the crowd. He walked with two friends, one with silver hair and a permanent pissed off expression, the other with red hair and a beaming smile on her lips.

I reached out and tugged at Sora's trouser leg. He looked down at me and his eyes widened as he saw my pathetic and bleeding form. He spoke to his friends and jumped into the hedge with me – probably a very interesting scene to his friends.

"Don't go in," I insisted quietly.

"What happened to you?" he gasped over my instruction.

"It doesn't matter-"

"Doesn't matter?" He shook his head and sighed, already knowing that I wouldn't give him a straight answer. "What are you doing in school like this? Go to the hospital!"

"Don't go in," I repeated, wheezing for breath. "Stay with me. Don't leave. Don't go in. Stay by my side."

"What-"

Before he had a chance to finish, I grabbed his arm and began to rush towards the gates as a break between the students arriving appeared to us.

He asked me over and over again with persistent questions that I either had no answer to or couldn't answer at all. So I kept quiet, biting my lip as the hurrying caused pain that I had never experienced before.

It took nearly as long to get to my apartment as if had walking from it, but no matter how many times Sora asked to help, I always declined it. I didn't want to appear weak, and I wanted to get there quickly. If we were attacked again, Sora would be vulnerable as I couldn't protect him. Not that my apartment was much safer, but it was fine for a few hours.

Once we arrived, I threw him onto a chair and I went looking for bandages. It was the first time I saw my wounds as I peeled off my trousers, hoodie and top. I admitted that they were hideous to look at, so I spent most of my time averting my eyes as I bound them up.

I walked back into the room with clean clothes and covered in bandaged from head to toe, and sat in front of Sora. I just watched him for a while, wondering what I should do now and where we should go. If those people were able to find me yesterday, then they would be able to find me again.

"Is this some sort of kidnap?" he asked nervously.

"I'm not kidnapping you," I made clear but explained nothing more.

He stood up and grabbed the bag he had dropped when I brought him in.

"If you dare leave, I will attack you," I warned, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. He flinched and I continued, "I may not look like I could in this state, but I will have to and I will do it."

He sat back down and bit his cheek in thought as he averted from my eyes.

"What's happening, Roxas?" he asked. All the happiness and all the optimism he had held before this suddenly faded and he grew suspicious of me.

I had to admit that that made my feelings sink inside and guilt fell at the bottom of my stomach. But I told myself I didn't care. I needed to protect him and if guilt was the result of that, instead of his death or his pain, then it was worth it. I wasn't going to back down, not even if Sora turned around and told me he hated me.

"Nothing much. Weather's a bit bad, isn't it?" I avoided.

"Roxas," Sora snapped. "What have you done?"

I raised my eyebrows in awe. "What have _I_ done?" I whispered incredulously. I shook my head to push that thought away. I hadn't done anything. The reason I had been beaten up was for him, anyway. "Just listen and do as I say, please, Sora."

"If you tell me why," he insisted stubbornly.

"Sora-"

"_Roxas_. Tell me why, or I'm leaving right now."

Our eyes connected as I saw all the seriousness that lurked within those depths, a side of him that I hadn't seen yet. I felt slightly happy. It was my purpose to look after him, and to do that I needed to get to know him. Learning more about him was kind of rewarding for me, especially as we hadn't known each other for long. The situation in which I learnt this wasn't the best, but I was just as stubborn as he.

"You're in danger," I gave in finally. I may have told him this, but I wasn't going to tell him everything. "I've got on the wrong side of some people and now they're after you." It wasn't exactly a lie.

"Why me?" I could see that a whirl of questions stormed him mind and they all fought to bring themselves out, but concern for himself won over.

I shrugged, recoiling as it spread a sharp pain around me body, and got up from where I sat. I gazed down at him, realising the threat suddenly as I saw the fear grow behind his calm demeanour. My protective instinct took over and I desperately wanted to meet those people to face them again, this time fair and square, despite my being weakened.

"Sora," I said quietly and calmly. "I won't let them get you. I'd rather die than let anyone hurt you."

"Why would you say that?"

"It's true, that's why," I responded. Before he could say anything more, I interrupted, "It's best if you stay here with me where I can look after you."

I walked to my room and began to pull out a mattress to put besides mine. From the door way, Sora watched with concern and doubt. I would have given everything to find out what was going through his mind at that moment, and what he must have thought of me. I felt our connection, and I wondered if he did too, or if to him I was just some random student he barely knew that kept getting into trouble with fights and may actually be slightly insane. I wondered if that was how I came across,

"You'll stay here for tonight, and then we'll find somewhere else to go tomorrow," I informed him as I spread the bed sheet over the mattress. I could ask DiZ or maybe even some other Nobody if we could get somewhere else to stay. If I explained, they'd be find, I was sure.

"Ok," Sora gave in reluctantly.

I paused and rubbed my temples, the stress of it all finally taking its toll. I wanted to be strong again. The insecurity and uncertainty I had because of my fear of not being able to protect him now, it really put me on edge, and my optimism had begun to fade slightly. What would I do if someone did attack? What _could_ I do?

"You know what?" I finally said, standing up and kicking away the mattress. "We'll go find another place now. I know a place where some people will help." Maybe Hayner would help. He was interested to find out what my Original was like, anyway, and there wasn't a rule against other Nobodies knowing who your Original was. Plus, I really needed the help. "Get your bad and we'll go."

He didn't argue, not even as I tugged at his sleeve and pulled him with me as we escaped my apartment. I cast my mind back to when I had first learnt of the club where the Nobodies went, and I remembered when a few had even brought their Originals if they needed shelter.

But before we arrived, I felt the air weigh heavily upon me. I realised quickly that the streets that had once been so filled with life had been emptied. Some dark feeling loomed around in the air, pressing dangerously against my mind.

I rushed as quickly as I could, ignoring the pain, and came to where the sanctuary normally stood. It still stood there, but barely. Fire burnt on the top floor, flaring into the sky, burning a plume of black smoke. Parts of the walls had gone missing, smashed to pieces by a great force. Some spots of blood were dotted around the floor, but nothing great. It seemed it had happened only a short while ago, whatever this was, and it also seemed that everyone who had been safe inside had managed to escape.

I stared at it with sadness welling up behind my eyes. There had been so many strong people in there, born to fight and protect, and the place had fallen so quickly.

That was when I realised something. Their attack wasn't on just me as a Nobody, but on the whole Nobody population of this town.

**A/N: **_I'm so sorry for any mistakes! I've damaged my fingers on both hands and writing has gotten so hard to do! I had thought it would put a delay on this chapter, but with nothing else to do and boredom creeping in, I set myself on writing this and it has taken hours XD. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I wonder if you like where it's going? :) Tell me if I'm going to slow or too quickly, because I don't really have an idea of that myself. Thank you all again for everything! I know I say it a lot, but I really am grateful. _


	6. Hidden Away

I felt like crying, if I had to be honest. This was my home, the place I could go to, where everyone was the same and we all helped each other. We all knew what the other had to go through, and we aided each other along the way when we got depressed.

But that was gone. I didn't even know who was alive and who was dead, if any had died or survived that was. I should have been there, with them, and done everything I could to help protect our sanctuary. But I hadn't been.

I knew that what I did was right, as in after one small suspicion I had gone straight to look after the person I was supposed to, but I still wished I had done something more for this home of mine.

No tears fell though. I stood strong and watched as the fires burned, causing the wood of the building to collapse and fall, breaking it all away piece by piece.

"There you are!"

I turned at the familiar voice, my hope suddenly shooting up. From one of the abandoned streets, Hayner ran towards us, waving and with that pride filled smile on his face. As he stopped, I saw that his eyes still shone brightly, and that took away some of my fear. Had they all died, Hayner wouldn't have still had that cheerful look about him.

"What happened?" I asked anxiously.

Hayner scratched his chin and rocked on the balls of his feet. "I don't really know. We were going about as normal," he explained to me, "and all of a sudden these guys came in and just started to attack us all. We fought back, but when they brought out these matches and started fires, we had to get out." He hurried quickly to tell me when he saw the look on my face, "Don't worry. No one is hurt, or seriously hurt, I mean. No one's dead."

I heaved out a sigh of relief, a small beam creeping upon my lips. "Where is everyone?"

He pointed over his shoulder. "We've relocated about a mile away. Not far, I know, but we couldn't go far with so many of us. I was sent back to get anyone who arrived here." His eyes darted over to Sora, and his face held a curious question. Subtly, I nodded as an answer and he gave a wide grin.

"Come on," he said, "I'll show you where they are."

I gipped onto Sora's sleeve and tugged him along with me as I set off to follow Hayner. Sora didn't argue, but fear showed as he glanced backwards at the fire, then turned back at me. I could see the question of the connection between me and that burning building swimming behind his eyes, but I didn't answer and I didn't plan to.

For a while, we walked in silence. Sora bore his gazes into Hayner's back, causing Hayner to look back ever so often. But before anything became of it, we arrived at a small house, one that definitely did not look big enough to house as many Nobodies as there were, and no doubt those who had not been there to see the ambush would want to come here to stay and look after the injured. I wondered how DiZ, had he been the one to decide on the housing, planned on using this temporarily.

"The people who own this house had a son who was…" He paused and glanced at Sora, then continued, "… who was connected to us, Roxas. After he died a few years ago, his parents did everything they could to help us, and when they heard about the attack, they offered the place for us." He saw the look on my face and chuckled. "It's a lot bigger than it looks, you know."

It was true. As we stepped in, I saw the space of the room. The walls had been knocked down so this floor was completely open, with only a few pieces of furniture littered around the room for the convenience of those who wanted to sit. At the right of me was a wide staircase that could probably fit seven people horizontally across at the same time.

"Down there is the basement that has been converted into a games room and a sitting room for our use. Here really is just for the food really, where everyone can have the chance to eat together, even if they have to eat while sitting on the floor. Behind that door," he toured, pointing at the door at the back of the room, "is like a hospital area, where those who were hurt are being treated by a doctor they brought in. Come say hi to people downstairs. I'm sure they were worried about you too."

I followed as he made his way to the stair case and asked, "Why would they worry about me? I wasn't even there."

"No, but a lot of us had the idea that maybe the attackers would wait for anyone who would come by after we had escaped. A few did stay behind, but some of us who weren't injured came back to look around the area and fought off the ones who stayed behind."

"Where is DiZ?"

Hayner shrugged. "Dunno," he admitted. "Someone said he wasn't there when we were attacked. He went out to do something, apparently. We haven't seen him since."

Once we reached the bottom, we opened the large doors and were immediately greeted by loud rock music, coming from the two man band playing the guitar and drums in the corner of the room. A group surrounded them, banging their heads, hair flying about their heads. A few tables were set up around the whole room where numerous games preoccupied the players. Chairs and sofas sat up against the walls, and there sat the socialising people, all drinking fizzy drinks with smiles on their faces. Laughter echoed through the room as dancing painted the atmosphere.

The Originals that had been brought here were easy to spot. They, like Sora, glanced around warily in confusion, unsure on what was going on and why it was happening. I doubted any of them knew why they were here and what we all were, but they needed to be here for safety.

It was hard to believe that earlier, they had all been attacked and in danger of being either burned to death or seriously hurt by the attackers, or even the other way around. But I just guessed that they didn't fear death. Not anymore. But they fought hard because they knew that they were the only ones that their Originals counted on, and if they were taken away, their Originals would suffer.

A few looked over as they sensed the door open, and even those that I had never spoken to before smiled and raised their glasses of drinks in a toast to my being alive. I turned and smiled to each in turn, raising my hand in a thumb up to return the gesture.

"Does anyone know yet why we were attacked?" I asked Hayner as we made our way to two chairs that had not been claimed yet. I nodded for Sora to sit while I stood and Hayner dropped into the other spare chair.

He shook his head and bit his lip in thought. "No one does, though a few rumours have already started going around. They think that they're getting us out of the way so they can get to…" Again, he glanced at Sora. "...the ones they want. Others think that they just really hate our kind. After all, we're dedicated protectors, and always finish our mission. Maybe they're jealous of that."

"But those seem too simple," I argued. " I understand getting rid of us all to get to the ones they want, but that second one seems a bit childish."

He shrugged and examined his nails. "Dunno about that. Who knows what these people think? Another idea is that DiZ is keeping something, and they want it."

Immediately, my thoughts went back to Saix and Xigbar. But I shook my head and pushed that thought out of my mind. They couldn't be involved with this. Who would be stupid enough to confront me about DiZ and then attack? They couldn't be that obvious. But it did seem suspicious that in the time of our attack, DiZ wasn't here with us. Had the enemies known he was going to be out? Or had he known we were going to be attacked?

"Anything else?"

Hayner replied, "Not that I've heard. But you know what happens, rumours grow and more come about. It'll only be a matter of time before another few are made. Maybe there will be truth in one of them."

* * *

The silence that loomed between Sora and I weighed heavily on us as we walked around the building. Hayner had advised us to talk alone after he saw the confusion turn to deep fear in Sora. But he hadn't started speaking to me yet, and I doubted he wanted to, or even wanted to be anywhere near me, really.

We reached the top floor and stood on a balcony at the back of the small building. The air breathed passed us, whispering its breaths in our hair. I glanced over at Sora's face, mildly hidden by the shadows that had begun to skulk into the street. He gazed down at the small garden attached to the house, watching as the grass swayed beneath the touch of the wind, and sighed gently.

I looked away, guilt forming at the bottom of my stomach, pulling at my reason and forming the idea that maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring him here. Sure, he was safe, but miserable. And I didn't even know why. Some Nobody I was.

"What is this, Roxas?"

I jumped at the sound of his voice then mentally slapped myself. "What's what?" I questioned.

"What is that group downstairs? What's your connection to them? Why am I here? Why do they all look at me like I'm some prize? Why won't anyone say anything properly? Why did that guy avoid some things when I was around? Who were the people that attacked? Why did they attack? Who's DiZ? What's happening?" he flooded me with questions, replying to mine.

I opened my mouth and gaped, unsure of what answer I was about to give and stopped it. What was I supposed to say? The truth? No. I wasn't going to give him that. I didn't think he'd understand it anyway.

In the end, I settled with, "You don't need to know," I said in a whisper. "All you need to know is that we were attacked and you're in danger too. Let me protect you and you'll soon forget about this."

I began to walk off, afraid that I would spill something serious had I continued along the lines that I had started. Sora grabbed my arm and looked me in the eye.

"And what would you do if I said I didn't want to forget it?" he snapped.

My eyes widened. "What?"

His hand on my arm gripped harder. "I'm not saying that I forgive you, but I'm not going to forget something like this, not when it threatens people's lives. You're in danger and I'm not going to forget that. But I'm involved with this too, and it is my business to know when I'm in danger. What you've gotten yourself involved with, I don't know. But I'm not going to turn my back on you and leave when you're stuck in a mess you obviously need help with."

I narrowed my eyes and raised my right eyebrow. "But you hardly know me."

Sora smirked slightly. "You hardly know me, and look what you've dragged me in."

That brought a small chuckle to me.

He continued, "I can try and help if you let me know what's going on."

**A/N:** _Hey! Sorry for the wait and thank you for those wishing that my fingers get better :) I don't know what's happened to them, but they may be broken :S Silly me! Hahaa, but it's not the first bone (Or bones, as I should say with the three fingers being injured) I've broken so it doesn't really bother me. Here's the chapter! I tried to get it doen as soon as I could for you amazing readers. Really, you all keep me really inspired, so I'd like to thank you all yet again. :) Hopefully, the next one will be up sooner, if I'm not bogged down with homework or at the doctors for these fingers! haha. _


	7. Secret Connections

I asked if I could have time before I answered that question, so that I could ask someone above me if he was allowed to know, when really it was time for me to think of a convincing lie. He reluctantly agreed, eyeing me suspiciously, but below that was an understanding that this was something beyond just me.

We stayed at the new hideout that night. He had a restless sleep, and so did I. Whenever he stirred, or whenever I heard a noise, I sat up bolt right to see what it was. There were often times when I knew he was only feigning sleep, but I said nothing, and not a word was passed between us for those dark hours. He had a lot to think about, so did I, and we both had our own battled to fight off inside out head. What was I supposed to do?

We set off early the next morning to school, me still slightly limping from my beating, but I had covered my injuries and hid them best I could. Again, nothing was said, and the silence became something familiar between us. At each glance I gave him, confusion and curiosity was what shadowed his face.

As we arrived at the front door, I mumbled something about meeting here at the end of the day and he simply nodded before he trudged away. I sighed and made my way to my form, my head bowed and some deep lingering emotion that I couldn't name pressing on my stomach.

I knew I should have insisted on following him all day, to be there in case anything happened. But, inside, I knew that even if the attackers were after all the Originals, us Nobodies still survived and they couldn't attack our protected without us gone. Sora wasn't in any immediate danger.

I sat down in my seat and hid myself behind a book. I heard everyone else come in after some time, all shouting and giggling. They avoided me, as always, because of my antisocial behaviour. I had already heard some of what they said about me.

"You look so lonely," giggled a small and cute voice besides me, followed by a gentle hand on my shoulder.

I looked up and saw the bright eyes of Xion and her beaming smile. I couldn't help but smile back as I said, "This isn't your form. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," she explained, grabbing a seat and sitting next to me. She rested her head on the table, her smile never wavering for me. "Axel and I went to your apartment yesterday after you didn't turn up in school. You weren't there."

I shook my head and lied, expecting this, "I fell pretty badly in the morning." I pulled up my sleeve to show her one of the arms I had bandaged up. Spots of blood were already seeping through. "I had to go to the hospital for a while and I got home late."

"You clumsy idiot," she sighed, shaking her head. "Wait until Axel heard about this."

The bell rang and Xion bid her goodbyes. The lesson started and time seemed to slow down incredibly. But my back seemed to burn as I felt eyes suddenly weigh upon me. The teacher's voice droned on and I glanced over my shoulder. The guy with the long silver hair that I had seen with Sora yesterday glared threateningly at me, his eyes dark with venom and ill intention. I gulped and looked away, shivering as I felt his eyes still watching the back of my head.

Confusion welled. I wondered what I had done, besides get Sora into trouble, though he didn't know that. Nothing came to mind, but maybe he was just the type to hate anyone anyway. He seemed it, and I doubted I was going to get along with him.

I was right. As the bell for the end sounded and I started packing things back into my bag, he loitered by the door, his back to the wall and his hands in his pocket. Still, his eyes watched me and he didn't try to hide it even as I connected with his gaze.

I took a deep breath, threw my bag over my shoulder, and brought up my courage to pass him. I didn't make it far. He grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall, away from where the crowds pushed through and away from anyone that could save me. I didn't have a chance to demand what he was doing before he threw me into an empty class room and slammed the door behind him.

For a while, he said nothing, just stared at me like he had down before. I sat on the floor on where he had thrown me and stared up at him, shocked by the sudden attack. I was going to shout and order for him to tell me what he was doing, but he slid down the door and sat facing me.

"Who are you?" he snapped.

"Huh?"

"Who are you?" he repeated.

"Why should I tell you after that?" I growled back. My hands itched to punch him. As I had thought, we weren't going to get along. Everything about him annoyed me and it seemed that inside I didn't even want to talk to him, I just wanted to attack him. I didn't know why. I had never met a person that caused that reaction in me. Not even Xigbar made me like this.

"What are you doing hanging around Sora?" he asked.

"It's none of your business."

"How did you meet him?"

"Why do you-"

"What do you want from him?"

I slapped my hand onto the floor and exclaimed, "If you'd just shut up and stop swapping questions you might just get an answer instead!"

He closed his mouth and his eyes opened wide. Even a small smirk appeared on his lips, but only a small one and one that was hardly there. It wasn't quite a friendly smirk either.

"Answer, then," he ordered.

"I'll answer yours if you answer mine," I countered, determined that if he should be allowed to push me around then I should have the right to do something for myself. At his surrender, I continued, "Why do you want to know? What have I done wrong?"

He sighed and looked away, rubbing his shoulder in annoyance. He hesitated and denied me the answer.

"You can't not answer mine after shouting yours at me like I had no choice but to answer," I retorted, placing my head in my hands in stress. He didn't seem dangerous, I admitted. Just more concerned for his friend than anything, and I couldn't tell him I was worried for the same person because then he'd want to know why. If he was suspicious of me anyway, that was just going to make it worse.

I began to understand just what lengths I had to go to in order to keep this secret of ours. Our existence was driven towards protecting someone over everything, but that increased suspicion and what were we supposed to say when confronted about what we did? It seemed unfair to me. But others had done it over and over again before me, so who was I to complain?

"Why don't we start from the start again?" I suggested. I held out my hand and with a faint smile, said, "I'm Roxas. Who are you?"

He gazed down at my hand for what seemed hours, but reluctantly gripped it in his and shook it. "I'm Riku," he greeted quietly.

"Now," I began, taking my hand away as I realised that both of us were feeling uncomfortable at the contact, "let's agree to ask each other questions one by one, and let's both answer whatever we ask. Alright?" It felt like trying to negotiate with a child.

He nodded and stared me straight into my eyes, as if trying to threaten me, but only half-heartedly.

I was going to ask more, but suddenly Riku was flung forwards face first into the ground as someone pounded the door open from outside. In the light of the doorway stood Axel, his eyes like daggers as they bore into Riku.

Axel strode in and grabbed the back of my jumper and pulled me up from the ground so that I hung in the air for a moment before he threw me onto his back. I clung to his back in fear of falling and watched Riku from over Axel's shoulder.

Axel pointed at Riku accusingly. "You stay away from Roxas, you scum," he hissed, venom boiling within. "If I see you anywhere near him again, I will kill you."

Axel then stormed out of the classroom, grumbling in anger and his hands clenched into fists as if ready to attack anything that may come by him. Too stunned to speak or do anything, I simply gasped.

"That lowlife," Axel snarled.

"Axel, what was that about?" I asked, pushing out the question through my numb and trembling lips.

He glimpsed at me but avoided my eyes. "What?"

"You know who Riku is?" With each word, I gained strength and the realisation of the situation came to me.

"Roxas, leave it. Just stay away from him," he warned with sharp tone.

I wanted to ask further, but the look I could see on his face stopped me in my tracks and my breath caught in my throat. My mouth suddenly dried and I lay my head on his back, saying nothing more.

How could I be so stupid? I wasn't the only one who had secrets. Others around me did too. As I watched Axel's red hair before me, I began to wonder what happened between Riku and Axel to cause such a reaction and how they had met. No answer came to mind, but from the look on both of their faces, faces filled with such hatred and rage, I wasn't really sure then that I wanted to know the truth. I had my own depth of secrets and disguise that I was involved in, and from the way Axel was, I should not have got involved with his.

**A/N:**_ I know it's getting a little boring, but all this is necessary for the build up of something, so just wait! :D I have now introduced Riku into it, as I had actually been planning to earlier but, well, it went on a bit XD. Interesting, is he not? Hahaha. Not the best introduction, but come on! When has he ever made the best introduction? hahaha. He'll be in it a lot more now that I've found space for him! Some other familiar ones will be introduced soon too, but I don't want to just fill it with pointless introductions yet! haha. Thank you for reading and thank you for wishing for my hands to get better! I'm left handed anyway and that's the best working hand so I can still do schoolwork unfortunately haha. They're getting better so thank you all! :D_


	8. An Unforgotten Friend

The day passed uneventfully. Axel kept a keen watch over me, and a few times Riku did try to push his way passed his defences to get to me again. It seemed that their day had been spent trying to get on each other's nerves. It almost seemed kind of childish.

I walked a dozen feet behind Sora at the end of the day, as we had planned this morning, and followed him as we made our way back home. Sora's friends left the other way while Axel and Xion stood by my sides, but soon turned off. Once I thought it was fine, I quickened my pace and took my place at his side, but he seemed deep in thought and so I said nothing. We walked to the new base in silence and I sighed with sadness.

I gave the secret knock as we arrived and we were let in, immediately guided to the basement where already the music blared and fun was being made. Sora sat down reluctantly and I sat beside him. Still, we said nothing, and I placed my head in the palm of my hand.

I felt the chair bounce as someone else flopped themselves down next to me. There Hayner sat, a massive grin on his face. Standing by the arm of the chair was a girl. No, _the _girl. The one with the blond flowing hair down one side and her beautiful shining eyes. Her sweet smile instantly shot through me, making my chest bubble and my mind burn in confusion and happiness. I couldn't help but smile back.

"This is Naminé," Hayner introduced. "Naminé, this is Roxas. Naminé is new, moved here from far away."

I gripped her outstretched hand and we shook them. The seconds in which we shook hands seemed to drag on. She captivated me. Not with love, but with admiration. She was like an Angel, something different and pure from what I had seen before. Xion came close with her determination and kindness, but Naminé just seemed to have everything that Xion was lacking to push her over that line. She was what I wanted to be – something strong.

"Hey," I greeted. "Nice to meet you." Even to from my ears it sounded hideous and stupid. But she just widened her smile so that it reached her eyes. I saw her eyes glance at Sora behind me. "Oh, this is Sora, my 'friend'."

She nodded knowingly and shook his hand too.

"Naminé hasn't found her 'friend' yet," Hayner informed with excitement. "But she thinks she's close. Most people seem to find theirs at this age, right?"

I glanced at Sora and watched as he slowly took all of this in. Smart, I thought. Hold this against me later. I looked back at Hayner and Naminé who both seemed deep in conversation.

A shadow passed the door, going unnoticed by everyone else in the room. I slowly sat up, feeling Sora's eyes on me suspiciously, and walked to the staircase. The light was case by the lamps on the first floor, fading as it reached the ends of the staircase. Soft footsteps tapped upon the wooden floor, echoing slightly. I raced up the stairs as something told me to chase it. As I reached the top of the stairs, the room was empty of all life and the air was still and cold. But I continued.

I ran towards the back, to where the closed door was and threw it open, my heart racing and pounding against my chest in the rhythm of my running. The corridor behind the door, a connector for all doors on the sides opened up after a few dozen feet, into a huge kitchen. The pans and pots swayed as the open wind allowed in the night breeze. A faint sound came from the door leading to the garden. I ran through into the night.

The trees before me danced as the darkness coward before me once the light behind me chased it away. I scanned all around, but not a single movement caught my eye. I stepped out from my shelter of light and into the blindness of the shadows, the cold air snapping at me and sending my hair into a whirl around my face.

"Hello?" I called.

"Roxas, be quiet, someone may hear," warned a voice from behind.

I turned on my heels and saw DiZ leaning against the door. He had a small smirk on his face as he watched me carefully and shook his head, then closed the door.

"Where have you been?" I asked, taking striding steps towards him.

"Does it concern you?"

I hesitated. "No."

He nodded and sighed. "It's terribly sad to see that place gone," he commented sadly.

"Yes," I agreed. My chest tightened as I watched his eyes sparkle with fresh unshed tears, the tears that he wouldn't dare let fall. Something about seeing him saddened by the experience made it all the more real to me, and I suddenly realised that it was gone and behind us now. "But we have this place now," I continued. "It may only be temporary, but one defeat makes us stronger. We've been through it once before. We can stop it next time. But if we don't, then the time after that will be even better. And once we win once, we know what to do the next time. See?"

He nodded at me and smiled again. "True, Roxas. Very true."

"Our lives are made up of defending. Our home may not be something alive and human like our Originals, but it's just as important. Do you feel the same?"

"Yes, I feel the same," he replied.

I glanced out at the trees that loomed before us and a chill ran down my spine. I hadn't noticed how dark it had become once the door to the kitchen was closed. Questions were suddenly running loose inside my head and I gazed at DiZ's hidden face. I pondered over whether to ask him, or if my mouth would be better remained shut.

"What is it Roxas?" he asked patiently.

Timidly, I queried, "Are you a Nobody?"

There was a stunned silence between us as my question hung between us, lingering with the air and repeating itself in my mind and I was sure the words were set to repeat in his too. After a few nervous seconds, he burst into laughter and bent double, though he kept quiet not to let the ones inside to hear his bellowing chuckles.

"You are the first to ask," he said in between breaths. "No, Roxas, I am not."

"You're not?" I hadn't known where my question came from, but I thought it was a perfectly good question to ask of someone as mysterious as he. Anyone else would have wondered over the same thing, wouldn't they? I was sure there were other Nobodies before me that had thought the same thing but couldn't ask.

I knew why he had laughed. Nobodies always died, and if he had been one then the laws should apply to him too. But maybe he had been the first to break away, or maybe something had gone wrong and his Original died before his time came. Anything could have happened. It was amazing it hadn't happened yet, so maybe it had happened to him. Who else would bother with people like us other than us ourselves?

"Oh," I breathed as my head bowed.

"No, I'm an Original," he whispered.

This got my attention and my mouth dropped open. I was about to exclaim, shout something, scream in amazement at the thought of it, but the grief inside his eyes stopped my word short and my breath caught in my throat. He wasn't looking at me, but at something far away, something lost to him, something he couldn't reach. Inside him mind, someone appeared before him and this brought such anguish and guilt to him.

It pulled at my heart. In that one answer, I understood everything. His need to look after us was out of knowledge for he knew exactly what was expected of us. His pain was what drove him to shield us. He was the exception when it came to the limit of what an Original knew about us. He broke away from that limit and he knew everything. But that might not have been a good thing.

"Who was your Nobody?" I asked.

He was brought back to reality with my question and he took a deep breath in. "Nobody you would know. He died your age, completely alone. I isolated him from his family and friends." He paused and gave me a sad smile. "You know what happens next."

He killed him.

Just like every other Original must do to their Nobody once their duty was done.

He skulked into the kitchen and disappeared from my sight, probably up to one of the rooms upstairs, there to remember a friend he should have forgotten. I sat down on the grass with my head held in my hands.

It really made me think. His Nobody never knew that he would remember. Whoever they were never knew it would cause him this much pain. Would Sora act like that? I shook my head. No. I wouldn't let him feel like that. I would do my job and make sure he didn't remember me. I didn't know how to make him forget me yet, but I would when the time came. When it did, I would do everything to make sure he would never wear that expression, the same one DiZ wore. That pain! It was unbearable.

"What are you doing out here alone?"

Without taking my head from my hands, I answered, "Needed some air. The stuffy air down there is getting to my brain."

The person sat beside me and rubbed their hands and the frosty air collided with their heat. "You mean the one that never existed?"

I looked up and narrowed my eyes at Sora. "That has to be the meanest thing you've ever said to me." But I couldn't help keeping a smirk off of my freezing lips. Playfully I punched his arm, thankful that the silence between us wasn't for long. Maybe he was thinking over everything.

"Just wait," he laughed, "there's more mean things to come."

My smile widened. That was like saying we were going to become friends, and that made my chest's grip loosen up and it was like I could breathe again.

I saw his eyes glance back and I wondered if he passed DiZ on the way here and what he had thought. But he didn't seem too curious about it, and so conversation started. For an hour or so, before Hayner and Naminé came to find us after thinking we had died (their words) we just spoke about the most random things, finally being able to connect with something that was outside our bond. It was like we really were friends. And once Hayner and Naminé arrived, our conversations didn't get much more sane.

I wondered if DiZ and his friend were like this. I wondered if he remembered. But… did he even want to remember? Would I if I were in his place?

**A/N: **_I like where this is going, and I have the next few planned! :D I'm kind of torn between where to go after though, because there is two ways I want to go but I can't judge which one is the best :( Oh well! By the time I get to them, I will have chosen so no need to worry for me! haha. I've been gathering inspiration from my favourite band and their new album! XD ahhhh! hahaa. Oh! And I've been to the hospital and had some medication, so my hands are fine now, thanks to those thinking of me! :) Thank you! :D _


	9. Past Ghosts

For some reason, I couldn't sleep that night. Sleeping bags lay scattered around the room, the people inside them lightly snoring as the hours of the night slipped away, time meaning nothing to them in this state. The darkness, only slightly illuminated by the little street light that broke through the curtains, brought the cold with it. I clutched the edges of my sleeping bag and curled it around me in an attempt to keep warm.

Sora slept besides me, his limbs sprawled out in every direction. He didn't snore, but his mouth hung open and he breathed deeply in. A small smile sometimes was brought to his calm face, and often he could chuckle to himself in this sleep and I wondered what he was dreaming.

Hayner slept on the other side of me, his sleeping bag, made out like a quilt, was almost completely off of him. Like Sora, his arms and legs were spread out and his feet were dangerously close to the face of the person down from us. But she didn't notice, and he didn't either, so it would go unknown for most of the night.

I glanced around at the sleeping group and sighed. But my body grew still as I realised that there was something standing in the corner of the room. My heart beat faster and I slowly looked up, my mouth becoming dry. But what I saw wasn't something I expected. There was a man standing there, but he was transparent, and he stood with a glass of beer in his hand while talking to the wall.

I gazed at him, amazed. Stutters exited my mouth in confusion. I watched as another girl like him, see through as he was, walk through the wall with a glass of wine in her hand, smiling and chatting to him. No words were audible though. Their mouths moved, they laughed and they smiled, but I could hear nothing from them.

I sat up and glanced around, seeing more like then walking in through the walls, stepping over and sometimes into the sleeping bodies on the floor. They took no notice of the living. Instead, they danced, spoke, and noticed only their kind. One came close to me, just narrowly missing me as he walked by. I reached out to grab him, but my hand simply went through. He didn't even glance at me.

I sat silently and watched as they went about their own business, drinking away and chatting like this wasn't anything strange. It was completely mind blowing.

But they were gone as quickly as they had come. Suddenly, they walked through the walls and there wasn't anything left of them. I rubbed my eyes and began to wonder if what I had seen was something of my imagination, conjured up from my lack of sleep and my wild mind of ideas.

I just shook my head and rested my head on my pillow, fading into sleep.

In the morning, I had forgotten about what I had seen. I sat at the table with Hayner, Naminé and Sora, eating our breakfast while pointless conversation crossed our lips. I was in the middle of a conversation with Naminé when I saw one of those transparent people walk through the wall behind her. The guy held up a book and said something silent, his eyes staring at something behind me. I turned to see another guy there, waving at him.

Naminé followed my gazed and I had some small hope that she saw what I saw. But her eyes glanced over without a sign of her noticing and they returned to connect with mine.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

The guy behind her went back to reading his book, chewing some gum as he sat on a chair that wasn't there. The one that had been behind me walked over to him to look over his shoulder at whatever it was that he was reading, and pushed his shoulder as he laughed.

I nodded, replying to her, "Yeah, I'm fine." Even to me it sounded unconvincing and I couldn't tear my eyes away from them. But they got up and walked through the wall to be replaced with two girls with drawing pads and pencils. They sat down besides Naminé and began to draw.

By this time, Sora and Hayner had noticed my odd behaviour. Their questions of my health went unheard by my ears that were straining to hear the conversation between the girls. I became curious to see if they really were silent, or their words were too quiet for me to hear unless I listened carefully. But my concentration was broken as I felt Hayner punch my arm.

"Hey, you listening?"

"No," I said honestly.

"What's up?" he asked, ignoring my answer.

I shrugged my shoulders, unsure on what to say. What do I tell them? I could see these see-through people that they couldn't? Right, as if they didn't think I was insane already. "Nothing. I was thinking about stuff."

They just shook their heads and continued with their conversation. I looked back at the two drawing, feeling my hope sink as I saw they were gone.

It pretty much carried on like this for the whole day. These people still walked out from the walls, went about their own business, and walked out again. By the middle of the day, I had gotten confused and curious about this, and maybe a little scared. I always scanned other people's faces when they were surrounded by this madness, but it seemed that only I was the one that could see them.

I tried to ignore them, but I was reminded of them as they walked through me, sending a cold chill up my spine.

"You sure you're alright?" Sora asked as we walked in the garden alone.

I had decided that I had had enough and I wanted to be alone, away from them in the house, somewhere where it was the least bit normal. Sora had insisted on following me.

I nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, I said I was fine." My eyes skimmed over the back door of the house and the trees on the other side, looking out for any more of those creepy people that would almost certainly appear out of nowhere.

"No, you're not," he insisted.

"Yes I am," I replied just as stubbornly.

Sora rolled his eyes and sighed. I thought he would leave it be after that, like any other person, but he grabbed my arm, holding me in place, and said, "Are they annoying you?"

"I wouldn't call Hayner annoying," I laughed. "Just a little too much sometimes."

"No, I meant those ghosts?"

I choked as I heard the words come out of his mouth. "Eh?" I gasped. "Ghosts?"

He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Oh c'mon, I know you see them. You're not exactly keeping it a secret, either."

This has to be a dream, I thought. I'm really going insane. This is just a crazy dream and I'll wake up and everything will be alright. I'll be back in my sleeping bag and tomorrow everything will be normal again. Yet, my pathetic attempt at convincing myself really didn't help.

"Since when could you see them?" I asked quietly, watching him from the corner of my eye.

"This morning." He paused and watched me carefully. "It's alright, you know. They don't seem dangerous."

I nodded in agreement, but I then realised what scared me. A few of those people, those that wandered around, I recognised. They were from my childhood, those Nobodies that I watched grow up and find their Originals, then die by their hands. These were their spirits, the people I hadn't seen since I was a child. It was like they were stuck in the past in the way they acted like we weren't there. That scared me deep down. I didn't understand why I could see them, or why Sora could either. It could have been a coincidence, but I doubted that. Maybe this was the last few steps towards the end of our meaning. Maybe this was a sign that what I was needed for was coming to an end.

I needed to speak to DiZ about this, but he had disappeared again after last night. No one knew where he had gone and there was no telling when he would be back. It seemed that when I most needed him, he wasn't there. But I didn't blame him. Maybe he was too troubled by what I had brought out of him last night.

Sora smiled at me and grabbed my sleeve again, tugging me back into the house. "Hurry up," he ordered. "I'll play cards against you. I win, you have to do everything I dare you to for a full day."

"I win, you be my slave for the day," I added, giving in and allowing him to lead me.

"You're on."

**A/N: **_I know this is kind of out of it, and probably seems completely messy as opposed to what's been going on so far, but I assure you! It has a reason behind it. It is a bit of a boring chapter too, and the next few won't be too exciting, but it's all leading to something. I have quite a few chapters planned now, and they may become a little longer in quantity, though this one was one of the shortest. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you, but it means that I'll be able to fit more, otherwise this'll go on for ages! Haha. The last chapters have really just been introducing characters and bringing questions for you readers, also brining in the first enemies. Some things will be obvious, as you've probably noticed, but there will be some things that you won't expect! Well, I hope, because some of you may be amazing at figuring things out. _


	10. Instinct By Uncertainty

I hurried down the halls, my books pressed tightly to my chest and my head bent down. I avoided everyone's eyes. They didn't seem to know I was there as they walked into me and almost sent my books flying.

Like some sort of prey trying to hide, I hurried to the common room and sat at the back before anyone had even begun to arrive. Those who did arrive early simply ignored me and joined their own groups. Their loud chatter grew in volume as more joined and more after that. I hid myself behind my books in an attempt to make myself invisible to those who didn't even want me there anyway.

Sora had a lesson, as did Axel and Xion. It was one of my most hated frees and days. I had nothing to do but read and no one to speak to me unless they were people who wanted to tease me. It was normally about now that Xigbar and his friends found me out to do whatever they wanted to do to humiliate me.

I looked up at the door, my body growing still as I saw the crowd arrive. I looked out for his face, or even one of his friends, but even as the crowd began to end and the people dispersed, his presence wasn't there. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and looked over at another door, one that only a few people entered, but he didn't come through there either. I knew for certain he didn't have a lesson, and even if he did he probably wouldn't go.

I should have enjoyed this rare peace, but it sent me on edge, as if I knew something bigger was going to happen.

I spent the hour looking out for him, my fear peaking, and when the hour was up and as the crowds began to arrive again, his face was still not there, and neither were his friends' faces. Axel and Xion immediately sought me out and sat beside me.

Quietly, I whispered to Xion, "H-Have you… Have you, by chance, seen Xigbar, Saix or anyone of those around today?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. I have a lesson with Demyx next. He normally hangs around with them, doesn't he? I'll tell you if I see him then." She smiled gently at me and placed her hand on mine as she saw my anxiety. "Don't worry. We won't let them bully you."

I nodded. Of course, that was a worry of mine, but it had escalated to being unsure as to why they all weren't here. The memory of Xigbar's and Saix's threat began to replay in my mind, continuing on a loop. For them all to not be here, it definitely must have meant something was up.

Xion left for her lesson, assuring me that she was sure Demyx would be there and his friends must have just either been ill or just skiving, but as she left, her words didn't stop me from looking over my shoulder every few seconds. Axel left to talk to a teacher and I was left alone again. I curled up in the corner and continued to read, barely reading over the words as I watched out for any new faces.

I knew it sounded pathetic and I knew that I could match up against them if they did decide to attack. But my body hadn't completely recovered from the surprise attack by those men in coats and it was more for the fear of the unknown that really sent me into shivers. The instinct that told me that they may have been the ones to attack me in disguise kept me aware and made sure that the thought of their disappearance never left my mind.

After a while, I felt the need to walk and do something other than cowering in the corner. I walked the empty halls, trying to keep as quiet as I could as I passed the classes. My heart raced, but only a rare few passed me at this time, and each was probably as threatening to me as a chair was.

But there was one person I had forgotten about, which may have been the reason for my uneasiness.

"Well, what a coincidence. Alone, without that spikey red-head idiot?"

I spun on my heel to see Riku leaning against the wall, his frown deep with disgust at the mere mention of Axel. He shook his head and pushed himself away from the wall. As I watched him, I tried to understand what about him that Axel hated. He didn't seem threatening or dangerous. To me, he just seemed to be worried about his friend. But images could be used as disguises.

"What do you want this time, Riku?" I asked, taking a step back, more out of space than fear. If Axel wanted me to keep away from him, then I would do what he wanted me to.

He took a few steps towards me, his hands outstretched. "Just answer my questions. It's not like you lose anything by answering."

"Fine," I agreed, aware that I wouldn't be able to get rid of him unless he finally got what he wanted. "But be quick."

"Here? But we're in the middle of the hall."

I nodded. "Yeah. If these are harmless questions, it's not like we need to go somewhere else." Really, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't alone with him. Here, at least if he did do something, the classes on either side of me would be able to hear me shout.

He sighed and rolled his head, crossing his arms before his chest in annoyance. "Fine." He paused, glancing over me, before he began with his long string of questions. "How did you meet Sora?"

I shrugged. "Just happened." It was kind of true.

He didn't seem satisfied. "What are you doing hanging around him?"

I then wondered if he had asked Sora these same questions about me. If I wasn't careful and our stories didn't match up, then we were in trouble. So, instead of answering, I replied with the question, "Why do you want to know?"

"It's my business," he snapped.

"Which means that I don't have to answer any of your questions because it's my business," I retorted. I stared into his eyes as he glared at me. I could see all sorts of thoughts beginning to spin inside his head.

He rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand and exhaled deeply, cutting off our eye connection and just shook his head silently. "I'm worried, okay? He's my friend and he has the tendency of getting into trouble. He's stupid in that way, really, and I have to look after him."

I chuckled. His answer caught me off guard and the uneasiness slipped away. He watched me through narrowed eyes in confusion.

"Don't worry," I calmly guaranteed. "What intention I have with Sora isn't anything dangerous. I'm just looking out for him too. I don't want him to get into trouble, either." I could see that this wasn't enough for him, and I cut him off with a wave of my hand as he opened his mouth. "I'm not going to hurt him. I'll make that a promise for you."

I left him then and walked away as he watched my back, completely surprised by how I had reacted. I felt tempted to return to him and ask more about the connection between him and Axel, but I wasn't one to stick my nose into places where I knew I didn't belong.

As I turned the corner of the hall, I heard Sora's cheery voice as he met with Riku. Riku laughed and their voices faded away. I wondered what Riku would do if he ever found out to what extend I would go to to look after his friend.

* * *

Hayner and Naminé waited at the school gates for us after school as a new rule for us. A Nobody was not to be left alone, especially not if they were alone with their Original. It had been decided last night between those who were older than us, forced to make a decision when DiZ had still not returned.

"Ah, so this is what the school looks like," Hayner mumbled.

"Don't you go to school?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. I did up until I found out what I was. Then I just wanted to concentrate all my efforts on looking after the one I need to." He rolled his eyes and smiled. "Haven't even found them yet!"

I patted his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll find them."

Sora grabbed my sleeve and whispered to me, "Find who? I've heard the others at the base say the same thing, that they've found someone. What's it all about?"

"You don't need to worry about that," I replied, chuckling nervously.

"That's what they said to the others that asked, the ones who clearly are different from the rest of you."

I glanced at Hayner and Naminé, who seemed deep in conversation. "What do you mean that they're different from the rest of us?"

He shrugged. "I can't explain it. I'm different from you, Hayner and Naminé. I know that, but I can't understand how I know it."

I tried not to show the shock I had as his words came out. Thinking about it now, it should have been clear that Originals could sense the difference between us and them, just like the Nobodies could tell that Originals were different from them. But I had thought that that would cause too many problems and bring too many questions, so the idea never crossed my mind. How was I supposed to explain this to him?

"Maybe you're imagining things."

He shook his head and frustration lined his face. "The other ones that are different say it's like that too."

Before I could say anything more, the lights above us flickered to darkness. A cold wind blew northwards, passing us with a gentle touch as it brought the fallen and decaying leaves. Around us, we noticed that we were the only ones here, alone on a street that was usually bursting with life at this time. The houses on either side of us seemed abandoned and empty as the curtains were closed and the doors locked firmly. Clouds began to roll in, looming heavily as it cut off the little sun that tried desperately to shine through.

With instinct, Hayner, Naminé and I immediately formed a circle around Sora, watching our surroundings carefully. The shadows began to creep closer as the light vanished slowly. The silence was brought with it, filling the freezing air with its presence. We walked back, making the space where Sora stood smaller.

Out of the darkness on our left stepped a man in a long black coat, just like before. To our right came another one, as did another from the front and the back. Menacing smiles appeared on their lips as they stood firm before us, their hands clenched into fists, ready for a fight.

I turned to Sora, whose confusion changed to a little bit of fear, but deep inside his bright eyes I saw the determination and awareness. He didn't seem to be one to just run away, but that just made it harder for me. I needed him to stay still and do as I said if a fight was to happen.

"Don't do anything," I uttered to him. "Just stay there and do as I say. Understand?"

He nodded, but the look on his face told me that when the time came, he would do whatever he wanted to do. I sighed and turned towards the attackers.

Not a word was passed between us and them. No, instead, it seemed that the fight was going to say it all. So I readied myself, taking a defensive pose, careful not to pain my injuries, as they lunged for us.

**A/N:** _I'm sorry for the little wait, longer than it normally is, but I was at the doctors and he said not to write for a while. Yeah, well, I went against his wishes and am writing… woops XD. My hands are so much better so I don't see why I can't. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, though the start was a little boring! I have chapters planned now and there will be some very interesting turns! Hope you like it :)_


	11. Trapped

Pain erupted inside of me as the fist of the attacker connected with my stomach. I doubled over and a trickle of blood escaped from the side of my mouth. But I then grabbed the front of his coat and slammed him into the floor, pinning him down before he could do anymore damage to me or get to Sora.

"Roxas, are you alright?" Sora gasped.

Before I could reply, the one to my left attacked in aid of the one I had pushed down. He kicked at my ribs but I managed to grab his leg and trip him up. In my side, the wound from the last attack flared to life and I fell to my knees in agony. Sora's comforting hand grabbed my shoulder and his words swarmed before my eyes as tears began to fill up.

"Roxas!" Hayner exclaimed.

I pushed myself back onto my feet and punched at the ones that had brought themselves up from the floor. They swung punches and skilful kicks at us, but after years of training, only the rare few were able to get through our defences. We had been raised to fight like this, as protectors against anything. It was like training, just more intense.

But it turned serious when one brought out a pink bladed scythe, probably as large as he was, summoned in think air by his outstretched hand. He swung it at me, narrowly missing my chest as I jumped back. The other attackers stood back, allowing room between us and the scythe wielding stranger. I stood before him, further forwards than Hayner and Naminé and in an attempt to shield Sora.

The blade pointed at me as the wielder faced me. His hood covered his face, but I could feel his eyes roaming over my own and trail along my body, as if he was sizing me up for this fight. It seemed he didn't think of me as much as he stood back and lowered his weapon, a small smirk pushing at one side of his mouth.

Rage welled up inside me. He thought I was weak. How dare you, I thought. I'll show you. I thought over how he and his kind alike had attacked our home in a half-hearted attempt to kill us off for reasons of their own. I readied myself, posing in a stance that was clearly ready for an attack. I'd get them before they attacked anyone else.

I realised I couldn't really go up against someone who had an abnormally large scythe, and it would be incredibly difficult to be able to win. But I was better off than other people. I had been trained. I could fight. I was brave enough to face this person off, otherwise it was like letting him get to us. So, taking a deep breath before I made my first few steps, I lunged at him.

It seemed he was expecting it. He swung the blade at me with force, catching the back of my leg and slicing through the trousers and skin. But I was too determined to get to him to notice as the blood poured from the new wound.

The scythe was a great weapon – that was if the person didn't get through your defences. With a bigger scythe such as this, the odds of defeating someone close range was even lower.

I grabbed his coat and threw him backwards, landing on him as he went down. I kicked away his scythe and punched at him, managing to avoid his hands that desperately tried to grasp at mine. Another hooded figure grabbed his scythe, but Hayner ploughed into him, slamming him to the ground. As another jumped for the weapon, I grabbed his leg and tripped him.

As Naminé stood guard over Sora – who seemed desperate to join –Hayner and I joined the fray against the hooded figures over the weapon, carving at each other, some successfully and some not so. The attackers had it more than Hayner and I had, but it was them who had the most wounds.

In the end, the original wielder gained it back. The hilt of the weapon connected into Hayner's ribs, sounding a loud crack into the echoing air, far into the darkness. Hayner fell to the floor, clutching at his ribs with trembling hands, a clenched jaw and a scrunched up face. I jumped through the air and kicked at the holder before he had the time to attack again then stood before Hayner.

Time seemed to still and everything fell silent as we all caught our breaths. I stared at the four as I stood alone. They crept closer as their visible breaths formed in front of them in the visible air. The wielder held his scythe before him, keeping a firm grip on the handle, his smirk still alive.

I glanced back to see Naminé looking around urgently for anyone who might have been there for us. Sora caught my eye and I could tell he waited for what I would order him. He seemed to dare me to tell him to get away, just to be able to tell me 'no' and to stay with me. So I didn't waste my breath and I turned back to them, my chest heaving heavily for breath as I felt the warm blood drip from my wounds.

"Come on," one at the back sneered.

I sighed, gritting my teeth. I was about to pounce again when there came a disturbance. Several other Nobodies from our group attacked from all directions, some jumping from the roves of the buildings, some slipping from the dark alleys, some even escaped from the houses around. They surrounded the four hidden in their coats. Two picked up Hayner and took him away before he could complain about the pain.

The strangers made an attempt to escape, aggressively pushing their way through our army, kicking and punching anyone they could. Three managed to escape, but the last straggling one was caught before he could struggle his way through with the others. He was pinned to the floor and tied with rope.

As everyone settled down, stopping in their pace to watch the unveiling of this new stranger, the air stilled and all fell silent once more. I grabbed Sora's arm and pushed our way towards the front to witness the face that was about to be shown.

One of the Nobodies snapped down the hood, taking away his cover, unmasking him to show a guy around my age with blond hair and sharp blue eyes. He glared at us all and I noticed a small scar along the right side of the bridge of his nose. His eyes found mine and blame was thrown at me with silent expressions. I flinched backwards but kept my gaze. He eventually looked away.

Without asking him anything, the one who took down his hood grabbed his arms and hauled him up to his feet, dragging him with him as we made our way back towards the new base. Half way there, the young boy was blindfolded. He kicked blindly with anger but was stopped as someone grabbed his legs and carried him and his cheeks flushed in humiliation.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked on our way. He glanced down at the wound on the back of my leg that seeped blood, leaving trails of blood droplets as we walked.

"It doesn't hurt," I answered honestly. "I'll just bandage it up and that'll be all."

"Do you know how hard it was for me to stay still and watch you hurt yourself, stupid?" he mumbled to himself.

"Eh?" I grumbled very unattractively. He simply laughed and said nothing more. I felt guilty then, not because he had had to watch me get hurt, but because he had had to watch a fight scene between us and a gang of strangers. He had even seen blood being shed and weapons being drawn. There would be so many more questions now, and I wasn't sure on how I would ever be able to answer them. I just hoped he wouldn't ask, though I knew well enough that he would.

We arrived at the base and the normal happy atmosphere flooded away and seriousness set in. Those who were normally down in the basement waited in the opening room for our return. They immediately took the prisoner and took him downstairs, where they had prepared a chair and a rope ready for this investigation. All the normal chairs and tables had been pushed to the walls to allow room for us all. A set of three dragged him to the middle of the room and tied him up while the rest of us closed the door tightly and sat on the chairs against the wall, watching as the entertainment for tonight began. The stranger was tied against the chair and the blindfold was taken off. The three who had tied him stood back and sat on the floor, watching the person tied as he scanned frantically around the room, fear growing in those sharp eyes.

Nothing was said, neither by the young boy nor by any of the Nobodies. It seemed like we were all waiting for something; if it was waiting for him to say something or for something else, I didn't know. Sora watched the boy curiously, trying to figure out the connection between our gang and him. When he found no connection, he bit him lip, sat back and glanced at me. I shrugged as an answer.

The door burst open and DiZ strode in, fury pulsing through every pore of his body, pounding through the air around us. The door slammed behind him. He pounded his way to the young boy, who trembled at his presence. DiZ loomed over the boy, his hands behind his back as he scrutinized the poor boy.

"How many else were with him?"

I jumped as I realised the question was aimed at me. Stammering, I answered with, "Three more. Four in all."

DiZ took a deep breath and paced around the chair, slowly as he contemplated what to do next. All eyes of the room watched him, tension filling the air, weighing heavily like an anvil upon us all. Yet, not one rushed him or asked anything more. It became a mutual understanding without words by us all, this was serious and not something we could get past so easily. It was best to let this leader make the next move, or risk another attack and possibly a death sometime soon.

DiZ looked at each one of us in turn, his eyes sparkling with decision, lingering longer on me, Naminé, Sora and the spare chair besides me in which Hayner should have been sitting. But Hayner was in one of the rooms upstairs, being tended to before anything turned worse.

Finally, he ordered, "Call all Nobodies back here. They may bring their Originals if they wish to."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Sora twitch at the names. I was sure they meant nothing much to him, but meant something enough for him to take notice.

"Once everyone is back here, lock everything down, plan security, be aware. No one is allowed in, and no one is allowed out."

For the first time, the young boy spoke. "But that won't stop us."

**A/N:**_Here we go! I seem to like ending things on cliff-hangers, but that just makes it more interesting XD. I hope you're all enjoying where it's going and like it so far :). Thank you all for the response I have had for this story! I am truly grateful to you all who have favoured it, followed it or reviewed it. I would not be updating this quickly without you! _


	12. Inhuman Plot

"I'm fine, really," Hayner insisted, taking in deep breaths between each word. He smiled painfully at me, his lips trembling in discomfort.

He lay on a bed in one of the empty rooms on the first floor of the base. One of the medically trained Nobodies (she had followed her Original's path into the medical world and decided to try it out herself before her fate came up with the end for her) had deduced that he had in fact broken his ribs. He was to stay in this room for a while until it was known exactly how severe the injury was, though it was known that it hadn't punctured his lungs or proven anything such as fatal. It had only been one day and already he had called for me out of boredom.

"To think I know exactly how to fight and I got myself into this mess," he chuckled to himself. He sighed as he saw my worried gaze, then rolled his eyes and assured, "Don't worry about me. You need to worry about someone who really matters."

I glanced back at where he nodded and saw Sora lingering in the door way, eyes scanning around nervously, unsure on whether he should be a part of this or not. I called him over and he trudged his way across the room, halting besides me and giving a small smile to Hayner.

We spoke for another few minutes, but the medically trained Nobody ushered us out so that she and her 'assistants', as she put it, could examine him further. I walked to the main room of the house with Sora on trail behind me.

Sora had stayed quiet for a while and I began to wonder what he was thinking. He began to sleep less and every time I looked at him, his face always gave away that he was lost in thought. He didn't seem to have a set emotion, and so I could not even guess what it was that he was feeling as it changed from time to time, but I never asked even when I knew I should have. Who knew? He could have been planning something. I knew he wasn't one to just sit back and do what I wanted him to do, so seeing us attacked and not jumping in was definitely something that I hadn't expected. If the fight had gone on for any longer, I was sure he would have done anything but sat back. But even if it did end when it did, it didn't mean he was letting it go. I was sure that whatever was on his mind, it had something to do with that, and he was planning something to do in the future that might be connected to that.

To be honest, I was worried as to what he was going to do. I knew I needed to keep an eye on him before he did anything stupid and ruined my worth.

By the staircase leading to the basement stood one of the oldest Nobodies we had - Terra. Most people didn't survive to his age, though he was only a young adult himself. Each person had a different time in which our time came, but it was often before we turned into an adult that it did. To reach his age was a miracle, really. Though we were sure his time wouldn't be long off.

"What's going on?" I asked him, trying to push my way to look down into the basement. The room had been set up as an interrogation room, bringing a temporary end to our normal playing and common room, for DiZ and a selected few to question the boy prisoner. It seemed that they hadn't gotten far, and DiZ hadn't left the room for the whole day. If he took it this seriously, it worried me. Terra had been selected to guard the basement, more so that the boy didn't escape then for us to go down.

"He still hasn't said anything," Terra informed me, placing a hand on my shoulder and pushing me carefully away. "We don't even know his name. But that's all I'm telling you, little squirt."

I laughed and pushed away his hand.

"How's Hayner doing?" he asked.

My smile faltered a little, but it still stuck there somehow, strange but strong. "He says he's doing fine, but he's got broken ribs. They're not sure if there is a risk of infection yet, so they're checking now."

He clapped his hand on my shoulder again and gave me look that needed no words – it told me that I shouldn't worry. Hayner was a stupidly stubborn person, and the chance of him finding his Original was what kept him going. He wouldn't let himself go before he found who he was looking for.

I knew that. But how could I not worry? If I wasn't going to have long for my life, I wouldn't stand by and watch my friends die needlessly. I would do anything for them, just like I'd do anything for Sora.

There came a shake from the door suddenly, and both Terra and I stilled as our eyes darted to it. I glanced to Sora and stepped before him. He seemed reluctant, as if he was going to step forwards and draw level with me to face whatever it was, but he thought better of it and let me become his shield if anything were to happen. But nothing did.

"Must have been the wind." But even Terra didn't seem that convinced at his own words. Even after a few minutes, his eyes never strayed from the door. Neither did mine.

The door began to shake again after a while, rattling on its hinges and echoing through the still house. One by one, the Nobodies began to pop their heads around doors and scuttle in as the noise got to their ears too.

"What's that?" one girl asked besides me, her eyes narrowed towards the door as she reached for the knife she always kept at her side.

"I don't know," I answered her, but I couldn't help but remember what that boy down stairs had told us before. Maybe he was right. Maybe we couldn't get them out. Maybe that was why he was keeping so quiet, because he knew he would be saved.

Terra saw the look on my face and nodded to me. "Go, we'll deal with this."

I grabbed Sora's sleeve and began to drag him through the growing crowd that had begun to form in the main room. Those who also had their Originals began to follow me lead, taking their other halves away for protection.

"Where are we going?" Sora asked.

I glanced around, unsure on which way to go. Before I could answer, the door behind burst open and over the crowd I couldn't see what it was that had forced it open. But it seemed to cause such a massive uproar as the Nobodies rushed to deal with it. Some screams were made and some even faltered before attacking whatever it was. Their reluctance brought me nothing but worry.

I tightened my grip on Sora and pulled him behind me, never slowing in my step. My heart raced and my body shook from the unknown. I took him upstairs and into one of the empty rooms, throwing him across where he was the furthest away from the door. I quickly glanced around and saw only one window. I pulled the curtains and switched off the lights.

As I realised something, I ordered, "Stay there! I'll be back soon," before I ran out and into the room that Hayner rested in.

He sat up as he saw the urgency in my pose. One Nobody stood beside him, reading from a book. He glanced up as he saw me.

"What's wrong?" Hayner gasped.

"We're being attacked," I rasped, suddenly feeling out of breath. I turned to the doctor and snapped, "Get Hayner out of here before they get up the stairs!"

At my command, he nodded and did as I told. I wanted to stay and make sure that Hayner got out safe, but I had someone else to look after too and that was all I could do.

I listened closely, wondering if the enemies were close, but it seemed that the Nobodies downstairs were doing a good job of keeping them at bay. I rushed quickly back to where Sora waited for me and shut the door quietly. We sat silently in the darkness, our knees held tightly to our chest and my hand clasped tightly around his wrist. I listened intently to his breathing and for any sounds outside, my body ready to pounce if anything did open that door, but it was minutes of nothing before Sora spoke.

"What are we going to do?"

I hesitated, my mouth dry and my lips trembling. "I don't know."

"Those downstairs… Do they need help fighting?"

"I don't know," I repeated.

From downstairs, a scream pounded its way up the floorboards and the house shook as something huge was thrown against the wall. The grunts and the shouting of orders soon followed and the sound of dozens of rapid footsteps filled the air. Things clattered on the floor and battle cries grew louder as a small explosion was set off in one corner of the house. The lights on the landing flickered until they blew out and the whole house was set in darkness. A breath of cold air swarmed the halls, filtering in through the cracks, making my skin tingle.

The floorboards outside in the hall creaked to life and my grip on Sora's wrist tensed. I gulped and held my breath, my eyes trained on the door, my instincts raring to go. This was a fight or flee situation.

There came a scuttling outside the door and a small shadow, cast by the little light of the lamp outside the windows in the hall, appeared at the bottom of the door, stopping right outside. Another followed, a smaller shadow, then another and another. My eyes bulged at the number as I realised the sound downstairs had begun to die down. I wondered if that was because the unknown enemy had defeated our standing guard, or because the fight had been taken elsewhere. I hoped it was the latter.

"Bastards!" came a hiss. "Get away from that door!" The shadows at the bottom of the door vanished quickly as they ran from the oncoming attacker. The one who chased them off passed the door and vanished with them, their footsteps fading away and we were left alone again.

Every so often, a loud thud or a shout quaked through, ruining the silence that had begun to slowly build up. The hope that maybe the enemies had gone and we could come out had formed inside my mind as an hour passed. But my hopes were dashed as the door burst open.

What greeted us was a hideous sight. It certainly wasn't a human, anyway.

**A/N: **_Hmm, can anyone guess what this inhuman thing is? Though, I'm sure you all know what it is XD. I was going to make this chapter longer, but I thought this was just the perfect place to stop :3. I love leaving things like this because this just makes it more exciting! I'm sorry for making you hate me for leaving them like this! XD_


	13. Discovering Hidden Shadows

I didn't really know a way of describing it. It emerged from the hall, its yellow eyes boring into me, making my limbs quiver in fear. Its body was completely submerged in the darkest shadows and a small growl escaped from its lips. It crept closer towards us, cricking its neck to the side.

I wanted to fall into myself and hide, or at least tear my eyes from its revolting face, but it was as if they were locked. What brought me back to the reality of it was when I felt Sora shake beside me. I glanced over and saw his wide eyes wet with terror and his mouth gaping like a fish.

I stood up, despite my own panic, and placed myself between this monster and Sora. My knees buckled and I knew that at any minute I could fall from the lack of strength, but I was determined to stand as long as I could.

"Y-You idiot," Sora stammered. "Don't j-just be a shield for m-me."

He stood up with me and stood to my right, level with me, ready to face this thing. Before I could push him back, the thing attacked and threw us backwards into the wall. I jumped up and lunged at it before Sora had the chance to, and I clung to it as it attempted to fling me off. Sora ran to my aid and threw himself to hang onto the strange skin of the monster beside me.

I recoiled as I realised the feeling of it beneath my fingers felt gruesome, like something cold and solid underneath a layer of thick smoke. I held on tightly, but the thing melted into the ground and Sora and I fell to the floor with a thud. The circle of darkness on the floor that it became swam around the room.

Before it had a chance to manifest itself again, I took a hold of Sora's arm and pulled him towards the window. Looking down, I saw that we weren't that far from the ground, so I swung him onto my shoulders and began to climb out. As I lowered myself so that I was hanging off, I peeped into the room and saw the shadows slowly form to make the body again, and the yellow eyes began to shine through the black mist. I let go and dropped down before it managed to get to the frame.

Unbelievably, I landed on my feet, but the pain that fused to life sent me into a collapse onto my knees. Sora released himself from my back and placed my arm over his shoulder in support as he lifted me up.

"Where to?" he asked in a whisper.

As I looked in through the window to the main room, I saw a few Nobodies fight other creatures that closely resembled the one that attacked us. Others fought in the streets, all spread out and completely immersed in their battles. Their concentration could not be broken, so we went unnoticed.

"To the woods in the back garden," I replied.

We made our way slowly and quietly, keeping as far away from the individual battles that raged on around us, trying to avoid the detection of those creatures. As we reached the edge of the trees, our pace doubled and we almost fell into the bushes that grew beneath the leaves. We stopped as the effort became too much and lay against the tree trunks to catch our breaths.

Curses and cries came from the house, followed by loud clanging of weapons and the screams of the hurt. The smell of blood began to fill the air and my worst fears began to form in the darkest places of my mind. I glanced though the trees and saw two pairs of fighters battling in the back garden, connecting their blades with the strange solid mist of the monsters. One of the Nobodies managed to kill the small creature and it burst into thin air. The free Nobody turned to help the other in his battle.

Deeper in the trees I heard the snapping of branches and the crunching of feet on dry leaves coming closer. I held my breath and looked into the depth of the darkness for any sign of movement, for any yellow eyes or black coats. But I saw nothing, and yet my heart raced and I could feel eyes on me, watching me intently. It seemed Sora hadn't noticed what I had.

"Roxas, look!" Sora whispered urgently.

I looked towards the back door and saw a shadow move across the window. I didn't have time to wonder what it was before the door was thrown open, broken on its hinges, and the blond haired boy sprinted out, thrashing as one of the Nobodies grabbed him from behind.

Both Sora and I gasped as we saw him raise his hand and another ten of those monsters were brought from the ground, melting together to create one double their size. In this distraction, he had the chance to throw off his captor and ran for these woods. As he ran across our path, our eyes connected and time seemed to slow. I saw desperation set deeply inside, but the unmistakable deadly flare scared me. He was gone as quickly as he had come.

"We need to go after him," Sora said suddenly.

"What? Are you insane?" I huffed. "We have no idea where he is going, and did you _see_ that? He just…_ made_ those things!"

"But did you see his face?"

Before I could say anything, he jumped up and ran off in the path that the boy took. I shouted his name and called for him to come back, but he didn't even glance over at me. I sighed and, pushing past my injuries, rushed after him, reaching him again after only a few seconds, despite the screaming agony in my limbs.

"Do you have any idea where he even went?" I asked him, rolling my eyes as he shook his head.

"No, but he'd want to get as far away from here as he could, right? So the fastest way to do that is to go straight. So we go straight."

"Fine, whatever," I gave in as I realised that whatever I said or did wouldn't stop him, and maybe going after this boy was the best thing to do. We still needed information, more now than ever, so maybe it wasn't such a bad idea that Sora had come up with. But that didn't mean I agreed with it. If I had had the choice, I would have made him stay behind, maybe found him a safe place where he could stay and be out of harm's way, but there wasn't time and I doubted Sora would agree to that.

We ran through the undergrowth, pushing away the branches that threatened to stop us and kicked away the obstacles on the ground. I looked around to see if there was any indication as to where he went, maybe a broken branch or even a piece of his coat that a branch might have snagged, but the light started to fade the further away from the house we got and it started to become incredibly hard to even see what was even three feet before us. More times than I could count I was hit in the face with a twig or a fist full of leaves.

But after about ten minutes of stubborn persistence and lack of breath later, the faint sound of running appeared up ahead of us. Before long, his blond hair, shining in the faint moonlight, was easily visible in the maze of shadows.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, pushing myself to go faster to catch up with him. Sora followed my lead. "Stop right there or I'll tackle you!"

He slowed down a little to look back at us. As he saw us, he gasped and ran as fast as his legs would take him, leaping and ducking whenever he needed to be rid of something to slow him down. But the space between us was reduced to only a few feet and I reached out to grab the back of his coat. As I did, he suddenly stopped and we crashed into each other, falling to the ground with a violent thud.

"You stupid idiot!" he growled as he threw me off of him.

He glared at me, his teeth bared in warning. He tried to kick me, but I grabbed his leg and pulled him closer to me so that I could land my own blow on him. We rolled on the ground, landing punches onto each other and kicking at the other's bodies. I only managed to scratch the skin of his cheeks and he only managed to kick at my shins before Sora grabbed me and pulled me away.

To think I was trained in fighting and all I could do was scratch his face. I felt slightly ashamed, but I also knew I could do far more than that.

"What was that for?" he demanded of me, standing up and brushing he leaves and the balls of mud that stuck to his coat.

"Where do you think you're going?" I questioned back. "What did you _do_?"

He narrowed his eyes and stormed towards me. "It wasn't me. I'm not that good at calling them yet."

"Then who-" I was suddenly grabbed from the back of my shirt and pulled up off of the ground, left to dangle in the air like some sort of cub in a animal mother's jaws. I struggled in the air, but my kicking had no effect on whoever held me.

Sora was pulled up off of the ground too, left to thrash for his freedom. I turned and bit down on the gloved hand that had a hold of me and fell to the floor as the person cried out and let go. I ran to Sora and pulled him from the grip of his captor, throwing him behind me.

Two men in coats stood before us, hoods covering their faces, but their mouths were curled in a sly smile as they too pushed the blond boy behind them.

"Well, well, well," chuckled one of the men in the black coats. They began to circle us slowly, watching us like prey with their gleaming eyes that I was sure were scanning over us. "All alone now, little Nobody?"

I threw out my arms as a form of further defence for Sora, which must have looked so pathetic to them.

"Who's your little friend?" the other asked, tilting his head to the side and pointing at Sora.

I quietly gulped and kept my mouth closed, though I was sure they already knew all of the answers. This was just like a small sick game to them, probably nothing more than that before they did what they wanted to me.

"Is that your little kill-"

Before he could finish the sentence, I leaped at him and threw him to the ground, only to be captured by the other and thrown back to where I stood only seconds before. The one I attacked jumped up and brushed the dirt from his coat, his visible face red and the sly smile now gone from his thin lips.

"You little brat," he hissed. He was about to take the few steps needed to close the distance between us, but the other cast his hand before him to stop him in warning.

"We're done here," I heard him whisper. "We've got Seifer and we've weakened them. Our job is done." He turned to look at us, his jaw clenched and his mouth set into a deep frown. He paced towards us and stared us down. He hesitated, breathing deeply, before he snarled, "Stay out of our business and don't come after us," he leaned forwards and whispered so that only I could hear, "or we'll kill that Original of yours. Understand?"

**A/N:** _Whoo! Well, a threat had to come from somewhere right? XD. It's not exactly the best written, I'm not good at describing things, but I've had so much fun writing this that I don't care as long as it's not hideously wrong haha. Everywhere they go, it seems these men in coats will always find them! Would like to know what you think! :)_


	14. Goodbye

"What do we do now?"

We all sat in the basement, the chairs still in their places along the walls of the room, with DiZ stood pacing in the middle of us all. He sighed away his stress as the question posed by the little girl on the other side of the room, the one who sobbed her tears as the blood from the wound on her forehead dripped down her skin in balls of red.

Every Nobody that belonged to us sat here that day, all with their heads bowed and sad frowns on their faces. The few dozen Originals that had also been brought here sat at the feet of their Nobodies, keeping their concentration on this conversation, trying to figure out anything else they can learn from us. Sora sat at my feet, his hands fidgeting as he took in the words of those around him.

Beside me, all bandaged up and with two crutches, sat Hayner, only half awake after the amount of drugs he had been given to help null the pain. Naminé sat with her hand on his, her eyes constantly flickering to his face, making sure that he was still alright.

Each Nobody watched DiZ carefully, our eyes darting to the main door of the basement, wary that we may get attacked again. Terra and a few of his friends played guard inside and outside the house, but that had been placed before the fight too, and that didn't help us much. It was really like having no protection at all. Without any knowledge or any understanding of our enemies, how were we supposed to be able to win a battle? We didn't even know their goals.

Of course, we all knew we needed to move away, somewhere further in hiding, somewhere where we were sure that we were safe. But if they were going to find us, where was safe? Where could we go that we would be alright? If our leader didn't know, how were we supposed to even have a guess?

"I don't know," he admitted finally, sighed and rubbing his face into the palm of his hands. "I don't know. We have to move."

"Where?" someone shot.

"Underground."

The room fell silent and not even the slight intake of breath could be heard. I watched as the Nobodies before me all looked at each other in turn, incredulous and confused wondering if what they had heard had actually come from our leader's mouth. Underground? they all probably thought. How were we supposed to get underground? And what made that a better place than where we were now? How was that going to be any help?

But I understood his meaning. Underground – easier to defend, and we could make our underground base into anything we wanted. We could make our own ways in and our own ways out, the places that only we knew. We could easily protect a place that we knew off by hearts. We could easily protect a place that we made ourselves! If we knew all of the weaknesses of our base, those we could fix or just defend. Our strengths, we would know them all. Sure, maybe those monsters they had formed could make their way in without our detection, but at least we would only have to deal with them. The men in coats, we could keep them out. There were so many of us, the possibilities were endless!

"What?" a teenage girl asked, leaning forwards in her chair. "Are you joking? How is that going to help us avoid detection?"

I didn't like her tone. I watched her eyes, burning with rage and hatred, all directed towards DiZ. They must have begun to lose faith in him, or always had no faith in him from the beginning. Many of the people here had never seen him before, let alone listened to how he worked things. They must not have believed in their leader, and his constant absence hadn't done anything to help with that.

So I spoke up in his defence. "Avoiding detection isn't the issue anymore. This place was supposed to help with that. It hasn't. So what we need to think about now is how to defend. A place underground is the best way to do that now."

She turned her headed anger onto me, her eyes narrowing and her arms crossing in front of her chest. "So you're saying that we have no hope of ever hiding from them?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, well done," I cooed, clapping my hands like a patronising parent. "So what we need to do is find a place where, when they find us, we can defend easier than this place. Going underground is better than any building."

"And what if they block us underground? What are we supposed to do then?"

I rolled my eyes. "If we made a place of our own, we wouldn't have that problem. We can make all the tunnels we need."

"You think that's going to help us against those… those _things_ they brought in?"

"No, but can you think of anything better?"

At my question, she gaped and looked away, saying nothing more as she finally began to see the understanding that I had. Of course, it was going to take a while to actually find a place and to build it how we liked it, and no one had any sort of idea what to do up until the time we finished, but that would come when later.

DiZ sent out a group of people in search for a place that we could use, maybe in the side of a mountain or hill, or even in a wide open space. It all sounded to clichéd to me, but I saw the sense in it. Those sent out had been equipped with weapons and were told to look out carefully, though everyone doubted that they would attack straight after their earlier one. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that the enemies could attack whenever they wanted, and that had us on our guard constantly.

The group were back quickly, within the hour, and after a visit paid by DiZ, the place was deemed as suitable. Of course, it was going to take maybe a few days to make it habitable, so the only place we could still stay was where we were now. This put quite a few people on edge, but what else was there to do?

A day passed and still we were wary of the possible attack, but none came, and not even a sign was seen, so gradually the guard began to slack a bit until it was careful rather than overly cautious – the way it had been before.

We returned to the playing, gambling, dancing, drinking group that we had been before. How else were we supposed to live life if we had a limited one? Obviously we were ready for another attack, but we were ready to live too (Well, all except Hayner who sat in one of the spare rooms). We all had realised how uptight we had become once one of the Nobodies had woken us all up on night, a huge smile of her face, screaming out something as she skipped and jumped about the base.

"It's happened! It's finally here. I've done it!" she exclaimed into the night air as she pushed open the windows. She turned and danced her way over her Original, who so happened to be wide awake and aware of all as she had been. They held hands, hers grabbing nervously but hungrily at his, and both jumped up to twirl. "It's here," she sang out, giggling to herself in joy.

I watched the boy, her Original, and noticed something in the way he looked at her. He knew there was something going on, but I doubted he knew what it was. Immediately, I understood everything.

I glanced over at Sora, who was rubbing his eyes and trying to muster up all of his strength to open his eyes to see what was going on. All the Nobodies in the room sat up, instantly alert, their eyes about ready to pop out of their sockets. But their Nobodies watched the scene with confusion, occasionally leaning over to ask their Nobodies what it meant. No matter how many times they asked, though, the answer was never the right one.

It had to end sometime, for everyone.

She raised her hands into the air and tears fell from her eyes, but her grin never faltered. Suddenly, it seemed all the stress that she had been carrying on her shoulders was gone, but even as the end came, the connection between her and the boy standing next to her seemed stronger, and their link seemed to ebb through the air, like it was trying to strengthen itself in the last few lengths it had left.

The boy grinned next to her. Their friendship was so easy to see, but when the time came, he didn't understand anything about it. He wouldn't know that tomorrow, his memory would be erased by DiZ and the very hands he held in hers were to be the ones that would end her. But of course he wouldn't find out. Who was going to tell him? He was her purpose in life, her meaning as she protected him when he most needed her, but now that he was safe, now that his life was alright, her need was gone and her life wasn't enough anymore. Who better to kill her than the person who made her? Who better to protect him than the person who he would soon forget?

Celebrations commenced. In the basement, people flooded through to fill their glasses with whatever they could, and the music was put on full blast. Laughter filled the empty and cold air of the room, ignoring the time and just passing the hours with the gleeful euphoria that could only be described as a mess, really. I had watched these things come and go, seen the person who was being celebrated have the best time of their lives, only to never come back the next day. Their existence was to be rid of, all the pictures of them were to be burnt, and their Originals to be sent off far away without any memory of them. It was almost like they never existed to begin with. And soon that would happen to me.

I heard people ask her how she knew, if it had appeared to her in her dreams, if someone visited her and told her the time was right, or if she just decided it herself. No, she said. She just suddenly woke up with tears in her eyes and a heavy feeling in her chest. Something inside her told her it was time, that this would be her last night, and that was it. At first, she said, she didn't understand it, but when her Original had woken up with tears in his eyes too, it was unmistakable.

I sighed. The story was always different. The ones before her had always said something different to that. So it was different for everyone?

"What's happening?" Sora asked me, shouting into my ear over the booming of the loud music.

I got ready my lie, one that I had heard over and over again from other people who had had to answer the same question when their own Original's asked. "They have to leave tomorrow. They've known it for a while, but everyone wants the chance to say goodbye before they actually leave." It wasn't the best lie, and I very much doubted that he believed me, but what else was he expecting? I wasn't going to tell him the truth.

It went on for hours, the dancing and the celebrations. But it had a different feel to the normal partying we had. It was like everyone knew that this was the goodbye, the last time we'll see her, knowing that tomorrow we'd never see her again, or her Original. Their connection to us would vanish, and soon we'd forget about her too, placing her just into a group of people we had lost. Her name will be long gone and after a while, nobody will remember she ever was alive.

I took a deep breath and tried to push the sadness from my chest. I'd be that, someday. I'll be gone, and there'd be nothing to remember me by. Yet, I didn't regret it. My purpose was being fulfilled, and if that purpose was to protect Sora, I would do so to my grave. I didn't need anything more than that.

As the sun rose, they were both called to a secluded room upstairs, where the memory erasing would begin. The rays of light shot through the glass of the window and the music was switched off just before all stood completely still. The Nobody dragged the confused Original with her, through the door and up the stairs while a collective holding of breath stilled the air.

As they savoured the last few moments together, all that could be heard in the cold, tranquil house was the slow patter of their footsteps. Then they were gone.

**A/N:** _This is the longest one I have done. XD. It's not that exciting, especially not at the start, but it's a chapter that I've been wanting to do for a while, give you a little taster of what it's really like to go through that, instead of just hearing it from Roxas's point of view. After all, he needed to see it first hand too! haha. Anyway, hope you liked it, and I hope to start making the chapters longer! If you have some opposition to that, please do say and I will keep it to the length I've had it up until now! :)_


	15. Freed From Capture

As the night began to slowly set in, the darkness sluggishly closing in on our little unsafe base, I waited until those inside its walls settled down into their sleeping-bags and drifted off into sleep. I quietly got up and crept towards one of the back windows.

For the past few days, I had monitored the patterns and routines of those who guarded our home. The patterns changed continuously to keep any attackers from figuring it out, but I also listened in on Terra, who was the leader of them all, and learnt what they would do next.

Of course, I didn't have any ill intention. But being kept her started to make me feel claustrophobic and I felt like I was starting to tear from the suffocation. I was more used to walking around wherever I wanted to go, and being kept in like this, I just didn't know how to deal with it. So, a few days ago, I had decided to go back to my apartment to get the things I had left.

So I threw down the rope I had stolen and clambered down as quickly as I could. Once I reached the bottom, I pulled it down with me and left it in some bush underneath the bottom window. I didn't leave it there so that I could get up later, no. I didn't expect to be able to sneak in again once I had got out. Even I knew that that was near impossible. I'd let them find me, because I had nothing to hide.

I ran for the covers of the trees and never looked back. Even as I entered the border of the cover, I did not stop. I continued, turning slightly to the right so that I was on my way towards the West part of town, constantly glancing over my shoulder. But it was alright, and I couldn't believe my luck. Not until I reached the edge of the woods and step onto the dark, cobble stone street did I stop and catch my breath.

The street lamps flickered as the lights of the few houses around switched off, casting more shadows to loom over the lightless street. I walked soundless towards where my apartment had been, watching the shadows, the feat that those little monsters may jump out at any moment and drag me off to somewhere I couldn't get out.

But I arrived at the door and shakily took out my key to fit it in the lock. I jumped in and threw closed the door, resting myself against it and panting for breath. I flickered on the light and the familiar surroundings grew to calm me.

I paced towards the centre, a small smile sneaking onto my lips. But my hands clenched as I heard something to my left. Next thing I knew, my feet no longer touched the ground and my back was against the wall. My top was bunched up at my chest and I stared down into the rage-filled face of Saix.

I gasped and flung myself at him, attacking him with all of my might. I got free and scurried away, looking for any sign of a weapon. But he strode past the distance that separated us and stroke out at me. I kicked away his attacks, throwing him onto the floor and throwing a combo of assaults, skilfully mastered and with the intent of knocking him out. However, he was just as skilful.

"I was waiting for you," he sneered, pushing me away with a thrust of his elbows.

I gasped as pain erupted inside my chest. I clenched at it, pushing on the pain, and hurled myself at him, throwing him against the wall and slamming his head against the plaster. The wall gave a sharp yelp before a patch of a circle behind his head collapsed inwards, creating a hole in the wall.

"Creep," I replied, jumping backwards as he fell to the floor.

I ran towards the door, but his hand circled around my ankle and I fell to the floor. I cried out as he dragged me towards him and I clutched at the carpet, but I could get no hold. I attacked in a flurry of kicks, but he refused to let go. So I aimed for his chest and kicked at that with both of my feet. He doubled over and let go. I ran to the door and threw it open, ripping it from its hinges as I went.

"You can't escape, brat," he huffed as I crossed the threshold. "You're alone here."

But I paid no attention so his words. I didn't even remember the things that I had gone there to get anyway. What was on my mind consumed all of my thoughts; I began to notice figures that protruded from the shadows of the unlit street. From the allies stepped forth others in coats, all watching as I sprinted passed with fear in my face. But they made no move.

What scared me wasn't that though. What terrified me was the amount of people there were. There were more than five, or even ten. There was probably near twenty that saw, and who was to say that there weren't any more than that. The little black monsters with bright light-bulb eyes scurried after me, keeping their distance.

Why weren't they all surrounding me? Why weren't they attacking me? Why weren't they doing more? I was so weak alone! They had the strength. But they made no move. They just watched me, followed me, stalked me as I ran through the empty streets.

I called for help as I saw a lone house with its lights on. I headed that way and screamed for assistance, for anything, for anyone. I was terrified that this was just a small game and they'd grow bored soon and take me away. But no one came to help. No one came to see who was screaming and why they were. No one even looked out the window. It was as if nobody had even heard my shrieks.

After a while of simply following, they began to close in. I stopped as I saw one of them approaching from afar, the little monsters circling at his feet. I looked around, realising that I was surrounded, and whimpered slightly. I shouldn't have left. But how was I to know this was going to happen? I should have just stayed. But how would I have known that he waited at my apartment?

I glanced down at my hand as I felt something dribbling from the edges of my fingers. Red blood was what struck at me, flowing from a gash I had on my forearm. I cast my memory back and didn't know how I got it, but my mind was immediately distracted the boy that we had caught- Seifer- stepped from the circle towards me.

He pointed an accusing finger at me, his eyes narrowed but not a smirk rested on his face.

"Nobody," he whispered into the cold, still, silent air.

A small second passed by in which everything halted. Before I could do anything, the monsters around jumped at me, devouring me into the shadows, engulfing my presence, pushing me into the darkness they opened up beneath my feet. I stretched out my hand, crying out for help, but Seifer stared down at me with silent judgment and I was swallowed beneath the fray of the nightmares.

My voice was suddenly muted, unable to be heard in the endless black that I found myself in. Those yellow eyes sneaked away and I was left alone with my feet on what seemed to melt with the walls, or space, or whatever it was that I had been thrown into.

I calmed myself, breathing slowly, my eyes wide as they desperately looked around. I had no idea where I was and there was nothing to tell me where I could have possibly been.

"Oh, no," I moaned, my slight voice trembling. "Sora… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Sora." I gulped again, trying to distract myself from the thought of how now there was no one to protect my Original. Who knew how long I would be here? Who knew what they wanted me for?

Who knew what was going to happen to me?

I pushed back my tears and began to move in any direction. Staying somewhere wasn't going to help, and yet maybe walking somewhere wouldn't be any help either. But what was I to do?

I didn't know how long I spent there alone. With each passing second, my fear grew and my pace turned rapid as desperation set in. My breathing turned troubled. My heart still beat out of my chest. Pain still shot through me like a blunt knife. My blood still trickled. It could have only been an hour. It could have been a day. I had no idea, and to be honest, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to.

But I halted in my endless and useless journey as a voice cut through the darkness.

"It's only the beginning," it chuckled.

A small glimmer sparked in the distance. I inhaled deeply and began to run towards that light. It suddenly shone brightly, consuming the shadows and immersing me. I shut my eyes and threw my arms before my eyes, shielding the fragile sight from this outburst of pain. I opened my eyes as I felt pressure on my back and he light fade away. What I saw sent my mind in a whirl of confusion.

I was back in my sleeping bag, back in the base, back in my sleeping clothes and I was alright. I sat up, glancing around to see that everyone was still sleeping, none awake. I wiped away the film of sweat that clung to my forehead with the back of my hand. More dripped down my cheeks and landed on my lap. I sighed and inhaled deep breaths, calming my trembling body.

Quietly, I laughed to myself, shaking my head and closing my eyes tightly. So it had all been just a dream. It meant nothing, just a nightmare. All of this had finally gotten to me, eh? It was a wonder how it hadn't gotten to me before.

Sora stretched awake, smiling as he saw me turn my head. He yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hand. But as he glanced at me again, his eyes grew wide and he took a sharp intake of breath.

"Roxas… your forehead…" he shakily muttered.

"What?" I queried, reluctance seeping through me. I had just convinced myself it was a dream. Please, I begged, let it just have been a dream. But as I reached to feel my forehead, I saw what it was. A dark liquid ran from my skin down onto my hands, melting into the pool of liquid that ran down my arm from a gash on my forearms.

"Is that blood?"

I mumbled unintelligible words as my lap started to become covered with the dark liquid. My hand fell onto the sleeping bag and painted it darker with it. I gaped, tears pushing at my eyes again, yet only one drop fell, mingling with the blood that poured. I looked up at his face, seeing his fear and his worry. As our eyes connected, I began to see just how big this was. I was terrified, but I had to care for him too. I needed to take all of this seriously. I needed to get ready. I needed to make sure that that never happened to him, no matter what.

"We've finished!" someone shouted from downstairs. "We've finished the new base! We move now!"

As those around us started to shuffle awake, Sora and I looked desperately at each other. I hid my hand under the covers of my sleeping bag and folded it so that, as the light came on, the blood could not be seen.

"Get me a roll of bandage," I whispered to Sora. "We can't let anyone know about this."

Outraged, Sora choked out, "W-What? That's something that needs looking at! How did you even-"

"No, Sora," I interrupted. "Listen to me. No one must know. You don't understand." When he gave a hesitant look, I grabbed his shoulder and gave him a squeeze. "Please, I'm begging you, Sora. Don't tell anyone, at least not until I figure it out. Please, Sora, please."

He scanned the room, his brows knitted and his face paling. His eyes darted to the covers that lay over my bloody hand. Our eyes then connected and he sighed.

"Fine," he granted, swallowing a lump that suddenly formed inside his throat. "Fine, but I'm giving you a limit. I'll decide when I tell. Alright?"

"Alright." Over that, we shook hands.

**A/N: **_I know that this doesn't seem to make any sense, though it probably does a little. But it'll make sense soon, just as the ghost thingies will too! :) It's not the best written chapters I've done, either, but it was definitely a lot of fun to write too! Thank you all for your continued responses and reviews! I very much appreciate them and look forwards to them all. I'm so happy you're all enjoying this. :)_


	16. Under Their Noses

The move was made. It took longer than we thought, but to stop enemy suspicion, we had to move individually, taking the few belongings we had. Those with Originals were amongst the first group to go, along with people who were injured. Naminé was left behind to join another group while Sora, Hayner –being carried –and I made our way in the night to get to the new base.

We arrived at a little cave about an hour later, in the woods that surrounded the town. It was mostly hidden by the trees and the overgrowth that the town hadn't bothered to cut away. If I had been on my own, I wouldn't have spotted it. But Terra and someone else pushed the bushes aside to reveal a dark and damp cave that seemed endless. Walking in, I realised it was anything but endless. The wall was so close that only three or so could fit in at a time.

A guard to our right slid his hand over the wall and pressed something. The back wall collapsed in on itself to reveal a long passageway, lined with new flickering lights, heading downwards. We made our ways down, listening as the wall locked shut again when everyone was back inside.

The passageway went on for a while, probably a mile or so, before it levelled off and split into all sorts of tunnels.

"Just in case they ever do get in," one of the leaders explained at our confused glances. "Most of these lead to either dead ends or traps, whichever comes first."

"You've been busy," someone chuckled behind me.

We took the second tunnel, but even then we were told to be careful. Even the right tunnel had traps, so it seemed. But everyone got through fine, and after what seemed to be yet another mile, we finally reached a wide open empty space, obviously man made and carved into old stones. Other tunnels were attached to this, but most seemed to still be in the process of being built so the piles of rubble and tools told me.

"After a while, you'll all know which tunnels lead to where. We can't put signs up, otherwise that'll be telling the enemy 'Come and see, this is where we normally hang around'. Not a good thing," Terra informed. He pointed to the first tunnel on our right. "That's where the biggest room is. There aren't any chairs or anything yet, but it's fine while we wait for the others. It's best to go there."

We did as we were told.

It was still a few hours more before everyone sat in the same room as us. But as we waited, I began to notice strange little things already. From the corners of my eyes, I saw the silent ghostly figures pass by, but they vanished as I stared directly at them. Once or twice, I thought I saw them look at me, but I thought it must have been my imagination. Once again, I was being haunted by these spirits, or whatever they were, and I had no idea what they wanted.

I saw Sora glance sometimes, but neither of us spoke a word about them. Understanding of them already hung between us, knowing that we both could see them, but it seemed that we weren't ready to properly speak of them yet, not until we both knew we weren't completely insane.

DiZ stood up, pacing in front of us, once we were all accounted for. He didn't want the new base to be unguarded for too long, but he wanted everyone to hear what he was about to say. The room was silent, breaths quietly drawn, all eyes on this masked leader. He sighed and rubbed the back of his covered neck.

"It seems this threat is greater than anything we've ever faced before," he whispered, but due to the echo of the underground base, it carried almost like he was shouting. "Never before have we been forced to hide underneath the earth, but our knowledge of the enemy is so limited that we had no choice. We could not let more of you be exposed to the risk of their attacks." He paused and turned to us all, his eyes blazing. "But I have a plan. We will not fall. Not to a bunch of kids and their petty creatures."

His words gained an earth rumbling cheer from us spectators. It was the first time we had received encouraging words from a leader that seldom showed himself to us. Of course, we all knew the threat, but we remembered just how strong we were.

* * *

The wave of our attacks started just an hour later. Terra led twenty of the oldest we had and set out for the streets of the town. They hid their weapons, concealed their faces with hooded jackets and feigned weakness. It wasn't long until the enemies rose to the bait.

We didn't know exactly what happened, but the roar of the creatures and the thunderous attacks that rattled our base were information enough while we waited. We sat and listened, often jumping as right above us we felt the earth shake from a particularly strong attack from a fight in the woods.

Short sharp waves of attacks was the strategy made up by us. It was obvious that most of us couldn't fight too long against them, not when there was so many of them and with the fact that they could call on these monsters at will. So, one attack, then retreat. Another attack, then retreat again with another wave of people. At least we kept our energy and we had more of a chance at weakening them. There would be approximately six waves a night, and each wouldn't last long. The next wave would attack while the first wave were retreating so that the enemies had no chance of following them. It wasn't the best plan, we had to admit, but it was better than just going in to attack and end up being killed off.

We waited patiently in that massive room, our arms around our knees, our knees held tightly to our chests, our ears alert and our eyes watching the next twenty of the new wave that readied themselves to run out. Little conversation was made, but it didn't seem that anyone wanted to talk anyway, so breaths would have just been wasted.

The new wave ran out, and a little while later, the older wave ran in, sticky with sweat and blood, and their breaths rapid as they drew them in with trouble. They collapsed onto the floors and all started to laugh.

"Well, that was interesting," one commented. "I'm glad we didn't have to carry on with that. That was hard."

No questions were asked, and nothing else was said. But everyone immediately understood – this plan was actually working. They wouldn't have been laughing if it had all failed.

For the whole night, we stayed up, listening to the fighting and watching as the few waves swapped. Some Nobodies ended up falling asleep slumped against the wall. Sora was also one who fell asleep, but his head fell against my shoulder as he lightly breathed. I was almost falling asleep too, but when the last wave of fighters came back, I was aware of the heavy silence that loomed after they too, in turn, collapsed onto the floor.

"It worked," one gasped out. "They've weakened. This'll work. We can do it."

So it seemed for the moment.

This continued for the next few nights, and, even though we were losing a lot of energy, the enemies were weakening too, a lot faster than we were. Things seemed to be looking up. Maybe this was the start of a path that would lead us to what could be the end of this all. We could go back to the way things could be before.

But I knew this was the beginning. We needed to find out who these peoples were, what those monsters were and what they planned to do. Defeating them in a fight wasn't going to get the result we wanted. Pressure had forced us to act. I didn't believe we did it at the right time. But I didn't think we should have waited either. To have gotten out of that, I believed we should have done something earlier. What that was, I didn't know.

When day came, the town was a lot more quiet than it had been. Those that inhabited it came out to see what damage had been caused and what had made it. Later, they admitted they had all been too scared to go out at night, and was scared still when it starting happening every night.

It was hard for them to answer, and even when the police came out, the fighting just moved to another place. They all kept jumping, untraceable, from place to place to have their fights. It was arranged that some time I should go out, once I felt I was ready.

I didn't know whether or not I wanted to go, but I wanted to be helpful, and I couldn't do that by just sitting here. But when Sora found out, he immediately tried to stop me.

"If you leave, I'll just come out after you," he warned. "I won't let you go out and just get yourself killed."

But, Sora, I won't let myself die, not until our connection has broken and you're ready to do it.

**A/N: **_This really isn't a very interesting chapter, I'm sorry. It doesn't seem to be getting exciting, but I had to write this, rather than just spread it over loads of chapters. So it is probably best that I just shove it into this one, and also it works better this way. The next few should be more exciting, I promise you. :)_


	17. Last Warning

Screams sounded through the cold night air as blood began to fall like rain from the body that was thrown up into the air by those monsters. I ducked and covered my head, closing my eyes and holding my breath and hoping that that guy hadn't felt too much pain, though I knew he had.

"Ah…" Sora gasped besides me, his eyes unable to look away from the fighting before us.

I turned and glared at him. "I told you it would be dangerous, but you refused to stay put!" I hissed quietly. I pushed his head down for the cover of the collapsing wall we hid behind. "I can't believe they even let you come."

As I head feared, I had been assigned to a wave once I was ready and I was strong enough. It was the tenth day after the start of our plan. For over a week we had been at this, and I doubted we could go on for much longer. But I could see this dragging on for long time, even when both sides were crawling on the ground, barely able to even lift a weapon. Of course, Sora had insisted on coming.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

I turned around and grabbed Sora's arm, tugging him with me as we narrowly avoided the attack of a man in the black coat.

"Narrow luck," he spat, ripping his blade from the wall and swinging it in our direction.

Once there was a gap, I threw myself at him, attacking him with a line of concise punches and kicks. He was good ad dodging and defending, I had to admit, but another thing I noticed was the strength that had begun to fade from him. Each defending attack was harder from him to achieve and the blood on his coat- some of which had stained old and dried, some new and still wet- showed the damage he had already had to sustain.

Once I had him distracted, Sora attacked from behind, throwing himself onto him and pushing him to the ground, where we wrapped his hands in rope and covered his mouth with the tape we had brought from the new base. I paused, reluctantly thinking of what to do next, but before I could do anything, Sora did what I feared to do. He threw back the hood of the guy to reveal the face of the guy we had been attacked by.

He was a young one again, with spikey blue-ish hair that fell in front of one of his eyes and covered half of his face. He said nothing, but scowled at us both, narrowing his eyes in hatred. He pushed Sora off of him and jumped up.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, slowly taking a step towards him, holding out my hands carefully to show I wouldn't hurt him. He reminded me of that one we had captured before, in a way that they both seemed too innocent to really understand what was really going on.

"We warned you once," he whispered, holding my gaze. "And we'll warn you again; Don't come after us, or we will kill him." He pointed at Sora and as I turned to look at him, the guy in the coat ran off, knowing I wouldn't come after him.

Last warning. That's what that meant, no doubt.

"What did he say?" Sora asked, standing besides me as we wiped off the mud that clung to his clothes.

"Just another threat," I answered. I slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go back. It's probably time for our wave to go back to the base anyway."

* * *

"How are you?"

Hayner rolled his eyes and pushed himself up. "Much better," he replied. "But they won't let me out of here. I'm about to go insane, being cooped up inside. Underground, to top it off."

"Broken ribs aren't something to laugh about," Naminé shook her head. She placed a hand on Hayner's shoulder and gave him a stern look. "You just be careful and stay still. You can run around as much as you want once you're healed."

"Listen to the boss, Hayner," I laughed. She grabbed my arm and walked me out, ignoring Hayner's pleas to stay and cure him of his boredom.

Once we were far away from his room, she asked me, "How is it going with you and Sora? It can't be easy. He's a smart kid. You need to be careful, too."

I shrugged my shoulders. "He definitely suspects something, but he won't ask me anything."

"Isn't that for the best? He won't ever know it all, but you don't want to have to give answers to the one that controls your destiny." She patted my arm in comfort. "Don't worry. I'm sure you're not the first one to have a troublesome Original. Not one has found out what their part is yet, and Sora won't be the first." She smiled at me and giggled. "Let's talk about something different, yes? How was the fighting for you?"

"Sora pulled the hood off of one of them, so we now know one of their identities- well, not the name. I've already spoken to Terra about what he looks like, so hopefully we're one step closer to finding who these people are."

She gripped my arm tightly. "My wave will me going out soon. Even those creatures are getting weaker. We're close. I can feel it."

* * *

As she had said, her wave went out soon enough. We watched them go with smiles on our faces, knowing it wouldn't be long before the enemies would back off and maybe we would have a chance. We waved them goodbye, knowing they'd be back soon with good news and maybe an end.

But something went wrong.

We kept to the same routine, changing only where people went to guard and attack. It seemed to be going well at first, when the enemies began to retreat into hiding. It seemed that we may have won, may have ended this for a while until we figured out something better to do.

But the monsters they let loose, these were completely different. They were stronger, they were faster, and they were more dangerous. They weren't what we expected. Under normal circumstances, we could have taken them on. But the wave that went out, they had no idea of what was to come. They were unprepared.

Only one came back.

We watched sadly, without knowing what happened, as she stumbled through the doors, covered in blood, sweat and tears. Her clothes were ripped and her weapon was gone, lost in the fray of the danger and mayhem. She barely spoke, barely looked anyone in the eyes, but we all knew that this was it. We couldn't risk sending anyone else out.

For nights, we waited. For what we waited, we didn't entirely know ourselves. We waited for them to come back. For the enemies to come in. For some sort of sign. For anything, really. But nothing came. Naminé and her wave were gone, and there was nothing we could do.

We sat around silently, wishing for something. Cooped up underground, our hopes were lost. Our only plan had failed and our friends were gone. DiZ had gone somewhere in the base and hadn't come out, hidden himself away where no one knew he was. What he was doing in there, we didn't know. Most of us hoped he was planning, coming up with something that would maybe save us. Me? I had no idea what he was doing. He may have been doing that. But he may have also decided to hide himself away again. Either way, I doubted we'd see him soon.

"Hey," Sora hissed, grabbing my arm and pulled me away from the others. "We can't let this happen, Roxas. We have to go after them. We have to bring them back."

I shook my head and sighed. "No, Sora. No. It's too dangerous."

He let go of my arm and frowned, looking hurt. "Fine. Then I'll go on my own. Riku's a good hunter. He'll help me." He turned and started to walk away.

Desperately, I ran after him and grabbed his shoulder. "Sora, you are not going alone."

"Then come with me. I won't have to be alone," he retorted.

I gaped, shaking my head. But what could I do? If I said no, he'd just sneak out anyway. I bowed my head and sighed, giving in. "Fine. Whatever. I don't care."

He gave me a huge smile and said, "Thank you. We've waited under here long enough. We need to do something."

"Yeah." What he said was true, but I was still reluctant. But whether we stayed here or went out, I doubted that the results would be what we wanted. This was our best hope.

We managed to sneak passed the guards that night, hiding in the dimly lit halls, with the few supplies we had in our bags. We didn't know for how long we would be gone, or whether we were coming back at all.

"What are you planning on doing?" I asked him, keeping a hold of his shirt as we passed through the cave and the overgrowth.

"Like I said, Riku is a good hunter. He can always find things that are lost," he explained. "He'll be able to help. He found me when I got lost on a school trip."

I didn't know whether to laugh or hit myself at that. Great… Coming face to face with Riku again. I rubbed my forehead and let out a deep breath. This wasn't going to end well, that I knew well.

"Hey, where do you two think you're going?"

**A/N: **_I am so sorry, for quite a few things. I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. My younger sister had to go to hospital for an illness. She's alright, it's just a check-up and thus. But I've been busy looking after her and taking time off of school for it. And I'm sorry for it being not very good either. This is how I wanted it to go, but I've written it badly and it seems in a rush. So I apologise for that! Please forgive me! Haha. The next one will be faster and better, so I hope XD. _


	18. Beginning

I jumped and slowly turned around, a small and guilty smile pulling at one side of my mouth. Sora glanced over his shoulder and bowed his head.

Hayner stood there, a crutch under his arm and an eyebrow raised. His face was twisted in pain, but he seemed to be trying to ignore that.

"Hayner," I sighed. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I could ask the same."

"Yes, but I'm not the one that has broken ribs." I crossed my arms and made a vague attempt to try and hide our bags behind us. "Just go back, Hayner. We'll see you in the morning." I turned around and took a few steps before he spoke again.

"You're going outside." It wasn't a question. But he would have had to be really stupid not to realise we planned on escaping. "I've heard what's going on. But do you really think that just the two of you will be able to find them?"

"Three of us," Sora corrected. "There's going to be three of us."

"Two or three, it doesn't make a difference," Hayner snapped. "All of us together couldn't win. Three have no chance."

I rubbed my forehead. "And what are you going to do about it, Hayner?" I asked, a small plea evident in my quiet voice. "By the time you get to someone to tell them we're gone, they won't find us."

"Take me with you," he demanded.

"What?" I gasped. "You're hurt! You need to stay here. Plus, you just said three have no chance. Four wouldn't make a difference either."

"I'm not staying here while Naminé and the others are out there."

I clenched my hands and glanced between him and Sora. "You're both just as stubborn as the other," I whispered to myself. Louder, I replied through gritted teeth, "Fine. But if you're holding us back, we're leaving you."

Laughing, Hayner hopped forwards. "Deal."

* * *

"I see him coming now," Sora muttered.

We stood by the school gates, bowing our heads with hats to cover our faces. Streams of pupils shuffled past, giggling and screaming at each other. None recognised us. None even glanced our way. A few ran along the pavement, and a group of guys found entertainment in climbing on the gates and jumping off the other side. After a few minutes, the streets were bare once more, evacuated of the students that were eager to get home.

"I'm going to go talk to him." Sora rushed through the gates to go after his retreating friend.

I watched as he reached out and halted Riku in his tracks. He spoke quickly in between Riku's hurried questions, no doubt about his disappearance from school for the days he'd been with us. He pointed towards us but Riku made no move to come closer. He was too far away for me to see his expression, and I doubted he could see my own face clearly, but he probably guessed.

"Hey, those two over there keep looking at you," Hayner mumbled.

I glanced over at the other side of the street and flinched. There stood Axel and Xion, tilting their heads in confusion as their eyes bored into me. I pushed myself closer to the wall and pulled the hat down further over my face.

"Crap…" I cursed. "Tell me if they start to walk over here."

"'Kay, but they're just staring right now. Do they recognise you?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so." If they had, they would have come running over. But they must have just been curious, I hoped.

We stood still for a few more seconds, silently as the time ticked away ever so slowly. I held my breath and scrunched up my eyes, my mind focused on the hope that they would leave curiosity alone and just leave to go home. But they continued as they were, confused and still. I dared not to look or move my hat for fear they'd instantly recognise me.

"What are they doing?" I asked Hayner, tilting my head to look at him.

"They're talking at the moment," he answered. "But they keep looking – ah, they're going now."

I let our my breath and stood straight, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Who were they?"

"Friends. I don't want to be asked awkward questions."

Footsteps came closer and both Hayner and I looked at the gates to see Sora rushing back with Riku hot on his heels. A beaming smile rested on Sora's lips and his eyes sparkled. But Riku watched me carefully through narrowed eyes.

"He said he'll help," Sora said.

I grabbed Sora's sleeve and dragged him away, whispering urgently, "What did you tell him? What did he ask?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "He asked where I had been and I said some people I knew needed help. I've told him that some have been kidnapped and we needed him to help."

I glanced over my shoulder at him. He watched me, but it was hard to see what he was thinking under that cold stare. I did know that he didn't entirely believe the story given to him, though. He, like most of the town people, knew what had been going on during the nights, though they didn't understand what it was. If he was smart, he'd be able to make the connection with us and that. Of course, he was going to blame me.

"How exactly does he do this hunting thing then?" I inquired, looking back at Sora. "He doesn't even know who went missing."

"I don't know _how_ he does it, but we just need to take him to the place they were fighting and he'll be able to take it from there." He placed a hand on my shoulder and assured, "Don't worry. We have a better chance of finding them with him. If they have been taken, we can do it with his help."

"He doesn't like me," I complained.

Sora just laughed and shook his head. "He doesn't like anyone when he first meets them, but once he gets to know you he'll be fine with you." He clapped his hand on my shoulder and walked back to Riku and Hayner.

As I watched him begin conversation with his friend, I uttered to myself, "I doubt that. We have a long journey ahead, I can tell." I hid my hands in my pockets and walked back to the group, glancing around us one in turn. It was an unlikely group of heroes, even I had to admit.

"Take me to where they were last seen," Riku ordered.

Two words kept circling in my head. Last Warning. Last Warning. Last Warning… I took a deep breath and wondered what to do. If this lead to following them, there would be no more warnings. But Sora would not turn back now. I'd just have to be careful when we got to it. I'd just have to make sure they wouldn't kill him when the time came.

Maybe we wouldn't have to fight. Maybe we would. But I would do everything I could. I'd go down trying.

**A/N: **_I'm really sorry for the late update. So many hectic things have been going on. But I've apologised enough. How was all of your Christmases? :) I hope you've all had great ones and a happy new year to you all if I don't update by then! I do apologise for the short length of it too XD. But that's quite enough of me now. Ahha. _


	19. Only Four

"Get down!" I growled, grabbing the back of Hayner's shirt and pulling him to the ground beside me.

We hid under the cover of an old wall that crumbled at the slightest touch. Truthfully, I was slightly scared it would fall on top of us, but it was the only hiding place we could find at such short notice. When we arrived at the place that Naminé and her group had last been seen, those little monsters that had attacked us littered the place.

"What are those?" Riku whispered, his eyes wide and glued to them.

"Creepy, aren't they?" Sora laughed.

"We don't know what they are," I answered him. "But they're pretty good fighters. They're dangerous." I stared back as our eyes met. His narrowed a little, but we seemed to have reached some sort of understanding for a little while as we knew that we'd be stuck with each other for a while. "Those things have a part in the disappearance of our friends."

"Right." He turned away again and watched the monsters scuttle across the open area.

"How are you going to do this?"

"Not your business." Before I could say anything more, he began to sneak to the end of the wall. With only one glance back at us, he ran forwards, attracting the attention of the monsters. "Messed up things, aren't you?" he chuckled.

"What is he doing?" I snapped at Sora.

He shrugged and gave me a small smirk. "Riku always does the opposite of what you expect."

I turned my gaze back onto Riku. It seemed he had even caught the monsters off guard. They had stopped their pacing and stood perfectly still, watching him with their bottomless black eyes. It took only one move, one to separate from the rest and make the first attack, for the others to follow and leap onto Riku.

But, of course, Riku was full of surprises. From out of nowhere, he brought out a weapon - a long black blade, gleaming in the sun shine. In one swift move, he threw off the enemies and slammed them onto the cold ground. There was a moment of hesitation before they attacked again.

On the night that they attacked us, these creatures had been filled with confidence and power, able to pick us off with what seemed no effort at all. But here, in the face of one single person, someone who had so easily pushed them off, their confidence faltered and their moves were more careful.

We felt what they felt too. From Riku, who stood there with a small smirk set on his face, power just oozed from him, filling the air with this suffocating feeling. I glanced at Sora and Hayner. But they didn't seem to notice it. Hayner's eyes were wide in surprise, but a grin pulled at his lips. The same expression was copied by Sora, but with more pride that surprise.

"You knew he could do something like this?" I asked him.

Sora just nodded, his smile growing. "I wouldn't ask just anyone to help with this."

However, even with all of his power, it seemed that Riku could only hold them off, not actually kill them all. Noticing this, I jumped out from the shelter of the wall and decided to aid him.

"What are you doing?" he hissed at me.

I rolled my eyes, turning my back to him and watching the monsters. "You look liked you need help," I replied. "Thought I'd join."

"I'm doing fine. Just go and-"

Before he could finish, we were attacked again. The monsters clumped together, attacking us as one. Our own personal feelings for one another were suddenly gone as we were forced to fight together against this threat. Without words, we changed our fighting patterns to fit the other, combining our techniques to get the best result. But it was hard, I had to admit. These things weren't as strong as the ones that had attacked us before, but there were probably more.

Sora and Hayner, despite wanting to help, stayed behind the rock, as I had hoped they would. Hayner, probably understanding that he was too weak to do anything, was forced to only watch. It must have been the first time that Sora hadn't gotten involved. But that was probably because he knew he couldn't leave Hayner alone. For once, since the first time I met him, I wasn't worrying about him when it came to something dangerous like this. For once, I could concentrate on the fight, even if the injuries I had myself weakened me a little more.

Each minute brought me more pain as my muscles screamed for the end of this fight. My eyes searched frantically all around me as I was aware I couldn't take them off of the enemy for one second. My arms ached from all the movement. But by each minute, they decreased in numbers too. They melted away into the ground when we took them down. It was that that helped us go on.

There came a pause in the fight. I clenched my fists and panted for breath. Beads of sweat ran down my skin and dropped onto the floor. I couldn't see Riku behind me, but it was like I could feel his exhaustion too. I could hear his rapid breathing and the heat from his body. We were circled by the enemy as they stood silent, calculating us with their cold and hard stares.

I thought they'd attack again. They had that look about them, anyway. But they all turned their heads behind them, as if hearing a silent call, and their shadowy bodies grew rigid. I glanced behind them, in the distance, maybe trying to find what they too thought was there. But I could see, hear nor sense anything.

"What's happening?" I heard Riku whisper.

I didn't reply. I didn't know what was happening either, but it was obvious it wasn't good. Maybe this was a new threat. Maybe this was where we'd have to fight it. But it didn't seem that this was that day. The monsters scuttled off quickly, answering a call only they had heard.

"Let's take this chance and go," I muttered urgently. "What do you need to do here? How much time will it take?"

"I've already done it," he answered. He turned away from me and walked to Sora. "Come on, let's go."

Sora stood up and tilted his head. "Where are we going?"

"South. We're going South. That's where your friends were taken." He grabbed Sora's arm and began to quickly pull him away from the area, dragging him behind him and always watching where the monsters had disappeared to.

"You mean they're still alive?" Sora probed with a small and hopeful smile.

"I can't see why people would just take the dead away."

I watched him carefully as I helped to support Hayner and followed them. I knew better than to ask how Riku had known or what he had done. I'd asked before, and I hadn't gotten an answer. I wouldn't get one now. So I kept my tongue and simply promised to myself to keep an eye on him. I'd find out how he had done it. If truth be told, I wasn't entirely trusting of him. Whatever he was doing was great for us, but it would be just as helpful to our enemies. Who was to say they hadn't gotten to him first? This could be a trap.

Swiftly, we escaped the area, occasionally glancing over our shoulders. It began to get dark as the sun started to set. Its rays of light disappeared quickly, creating just a dim light at the top of the sky. We decided to stop somewhere before it was too dark to see. But it still took us a few hours before we found an old abandoned warehouse. It was surrounded by dark, tall trees. Some of the bricks in its walls had already begun to ware away and fall. Most of the glass in the windows had been broken, leaving sharp, jagged edges as little shelter from wind. Parts of the roof had caved in. It really didn't look safe, but there was nowhere else to go, and our knackered bodies begged us for rest.

So we made our way inside, staying close to the door and carefully placing our bags on the floor to use as a pillow. We sat in a circle, wondering who was to be the unfortunate one to stay awake while the others slept. But we barely finished the question before all our heads collapsed onto our make-shift pillows. Despite the danger of the day, we drifted off into a sleep that only an earthquake could wake us up from.

**A/N: **_Here I am again, apologising. But here it goes! I'm sooooooo sorry. I've been so held down with work and exams and coursework that I really wasn't able to finish! Here it is though, and I promise it won't take as long next time. It wasn't a very exciting chapter, but what I have planned coming soon will make up for it! Thank you all again for your patience and for staying with it. I couldn't ask for better readers than you all. :D _


	20. So Close, So Far

We woke up in the morning, fully refreshed. It was a night's sleep that we hadn't expected we would have as we barely woke up at all. Though my muscles were aching and I couldn't move without causing some disruption in my body, a smile rested on my lips now that I had had the sleep I had needed. I glanced over and saw the same satisfied expressions on the others- even Riku looked a little less mean that normal.

"Do you have any ideawhere in the South we need to go?" I yawned, reaching down to collect my bad that I had used as a pillow.

Riku took a deep breath and stretched his arms. "Nope. But I'll find it."

I wanted to shout at him, tell him how stupid that sounded. How could I follow someone who didn't even know where they were going? But one look that Sora shot me stopped me from voicing my thoughts. I just sighed and waited for the others to get ready. Sora had faith in this guy. I didn't like him, and I didn't trust him, but he really was the best bet we had right now.

We left quickly and followed a small, old dirt track that led from the abandoned building. Once we had left that behind, everything looked the same. Each tree looked the same. Each direction looked the same. The path often split, and all that looked the same. I wasn't even sure if we were going South anymore and it scared me a little. Imagine, being stuck in the woods for the rest of your life. Hayner seemed to share my uncertainty for more than a few times he glanced over at me with a frown. But Riku seemed confident, never hesitating even when the road had more than one direction to go. Sora seemed like he couldn't care less.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" I asked after a few hours.

Riku rolled his eyes and stopped in his tracks. "If you think you can do better, then lead the way."

"I'm not saying that," I snapped. "I just can't see how you know exactly where you're going."

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does! How am I supposed to trust someone who I know nothing about?"

I could see that he was about ready to attack me; I had questioned his leadership, and he hated that. But Sora stepped in between us, his eyes flaring with anger. I stepped back, my need to argue with Riku gone.

"Would you two grow up?" he growled. "We're trying to find our friends who've been kidnapped. Who cares about the way we go about it? As long as we get there, right?"

"Yeah," both Riku and I agreed.

Of course. We needed to find Naminé and the others. After that I could question him. I knew he had some questions for me.

So, with that argument at an end, we skulked along in silence, guilt deep inside me. I didn't know how long I could go with this. I felt like I had been told off by an adult, and I felt like such a child. Looking at Riku, with his head bowed, I knew he felt the same too. But it didn't last long as we broke through the covers of the trees, finally out from the forest, into a large field. Looking down, we could see the twinkling lights of a city at the bottom of the valley.

With one look, we all agreed to make our way that way. We had brought food, but if we didn't get more soon then it would all run out. That journey in the woods really took out energy.

The city was very populated, with loads of people at your every turn. But it was lively and most people seemed to be laughing and having a good time. Stalls littered the streets, run by friendly shop owners who had a constant smile painted on their faces. Children ran through the crowds, playing games that I used to play as a child too. In the middle of the market area a bonfire was lit, its flames reaching for the sky. Young people sat around it, their frames illuminated by the light. It seemed that most people spent their time outside rather than stay indoors, so unlike the people back in our town.

"This looks nice," Sora commented.

"Yeah," I chuckled back. I had spent so much time in my own little world that I didn't realise that other towns could be so much more different. It was a welcomed release from the stress we were under.

"Young man, young man!" someone called.

I turned, as did most of the young men around me. At that, I gave a little chuckle. But they turned away as I still looked for the voice. At one of the stalls stood an old lady with a wrinkled face and small glasses perched at the bottom of her nose. Her white hair was tied in a tight bun and her lips were pulled into the friendliest smile I had ever seen. He waved her hand, beckoning me over. I grabbed Sora and made my way to her.

"Yes?" I asked.

She waved at her stall and replied cheerfully, "How would you like some of my ice-cream? It's nice to have something refreshing on a dry day like today, don't you think?" Before we could answer, she continued, "Oh, it is nice. If I do say so for myself, this one is by far the best."

I glanced down at the table, where a picture of a blue popsicle was, the one she pointed at.

"Sea-Salt ice-cream, by far the best, even in my opinion." She gave me a wider smile.

"It does look nice," Sora whispered.

"Want one?" Already, I took out my money in readiness to pay.

"We'll get one for Riku and Hayner too," Sora nodded.

After making our purchase, the old lady bid us farewell and waved as we walked to where Hayner and Riku stood. They watched as a performer danced before the open bonfire. We all watched for a while, drinking in the melting ice-creams. It was a nice hour or so that we spent, but time pressed and we all agreed to leave quickly.

But as we reached the outskirts of the city, we saw something that forced us into quick hiding. Hidden in the shadows of the trees, cast by the sinking sun, bathed some monsters. Standing beside them, resting against a tree, was a tall man dressed in the black coat. He had his arms crossed in a lazy way and he looked about ready to just give up standing altogether and sit down. His gaze roamed over the area before him, but he didn't seem to be completely aware. He must have been there for hours, with no results. He just looked like a bored teenager.

"Don't tell me they knew we were coming," Hayner gasped.

We hid in one of the small alleyways, watching him carefully. There could have been more hiding in those trees, and we didn't know whether or not those creatures could smell us. So we didn't know whether or not to run or just stay.

"They can't know," I mumbled. "How would they have found out?"

"No. He doesn't look like he's looking for someone. Maybe he's guarding something," Riku suggested.

"Not a very good guard, though, is he?"

I stayed like that for a little while, hoping that he would just leave is post and give us a chance to slip away, but he remained rooted to the spot, just as bored as he had been when we had arrived.

"We need to find another way," Riku finally said.

I turned around to look for another way, and something caught my eye. There, at the bottom of the alley, stood a ghostly figure. But this time even when I looked at it straight on it was still there. And instead of replaying the scenes of his life, he was staring straight at me, not through me. He tilted his head and curled his finger in beckoning.

I nudged Sora. Instantly, he saw what I saw. We glanced at each other and nodded.

"Follow us," Sora whispered to Hayner and Riku.

Together, Sora and I followed the ghost boy, Hayner and Riku behind us sharing glances of confusion. The boy led us back to the market place and the bonfire, but from there he led us down small alleys and horrible streets filled with graffiti and dirt. One or two people stood in the decaying doorways, watching as we walked along their territory.

"Where are we going?" Hayner demanded.

"Just trust us," Sora and I answered.

The ghost led us towards the East outskirts of the city. As we reached the end of the labyrinth of alleys, the boy turned and waved with a small smile before he disappeared. Beyond the opening, a few small cottages had been built, following a small road that led from the city. Here, at least, it was clear and free from the enemies.

"We need to move quickly," Riku informed. "If they're here, they'll be further on." He glanced at Hayner, looked him up and down and asked with a smirk, "You sure you're up for this?"

Hayner placed a hand on his ribs. The running had clearly taken a small toll on him, but his determination really was something to praise. "Try and stop me," he replied.

We made our way down the road, our eyes alert for any more of those things. But as the hours passed and as the sun began to set, we didn't encounter anything else. It was peaceful and a beautiful night as we came across a large lake that was sparkling in the light of the moon. Owls hooted in the distance and the trees swayed in the slight breeze.

Not long into the night, we arrived at a small town. At first glance, it seemed like a nice place, almost like a copy of the city we had been to. But at a closer look, we realised that the feel of the town was completely different. It left a sinking feeling at the bottom of my stomach and made the back of my neck prickle as if something was watching me so intently. The few people we did see, those who stayed out late into the night, gave forced smiles as their dead eyes glanced over us.

"I think we should leave," Sora whispered.

Riku shook his head. "We can't. This is where you wanted to go."

My breath caught my throat. I sharply turned my head to him. "What? They're here?" He gave me a simple nod. "But the way you were going on about it, I thought it would be much further than this."

"They were," he answered carefully. "But they came back." His eyes connected with mine, and with great caution, he warned, "Just because the people who took your friends are here doesn't mean that they came with them. Do you understand?"

I gave my own curt nod. "It's a start. We can grab one of them and question them if our friends aren't here."

This was it. This was where they were. Naminé and the others could be here. We could save them. Even if they weren't here, we might finally be able to learn more about our enemies. It was a win-win situation for us.

As if triggered by our arrival, an explosion was set off on the far side of the town. The town's people who had been lumbering around stilled and all heads turned towards the plume of smoke. Windows and doors opened as those who had been asleep woke up with a start, wondering what this was.

"They're starting again," cried a small boy behind us.

Looking back now, if we had been more alert to the real things going on, if we had known a little more, maybe we would have been prepared for what we were walking into. Maybe it wouldn't have helped at all, or it might have helped to make sure things didn't turn out the way they did. But how were we to know that this was all just a trap, set up by the cruellest person of them all?

**A/N: **_Hope you liked it and would like to know your views on it :) At least you didn't have to wait so long for this! Haha. Thank you all again and hope you like where this is going. _


	21. Torch Light

Without a moment's hesitation, I grabbed Sora's arm and ran towards the closest building, not caring if it was filled with people or abandoned. The others followed without any sort of argument.

Those who lived in the house welcomed us with an open door, ushering us in and bolting the doors once we were inside. The curtains were drawn and all lights were switched off. Silence filled the air between us and the strangers and barely a movement was made. Peeping through the curtains, I found the street to be completely empty and still, suddenly abandoned in a matter of just seconds.

For a few minutes we stayed still like that, saying nothing and doing nothing. But when there came no other sound outside, one of the owners of the house grew more courageous and opened the curtain a little more to view more of the street.

Turning around and shaking his head, he whispered, "Nothing." In his shaking hand was a knife he must have grabbed from the kitchen in his haste. Looking at the others in the house, this 'nothing' really must have meant nothing at all, because their fear didn't disappear.

"What's happening?" Hayner asked, turning to the guy with the knife.

There was a long patch of silence while the man watched carefully out the window before he answered. "Like we know. No idea, kid. All we know is to run and hide when they start."

"When who start?" I wondered. He gave a quick glance towards me and just shrugged. "How long has this been going on?"

"Not long. They came a year or a little more ago, made agreements with the leaders here so that they could stay and… conduct experiments, or something. It got out of hand, though. Next thing we knew, people went missing, there were random attacks, explosions, murders. They were rare, but happened often enough to scare the living daylights out of us." He paused and closed the curtains slightly as if he saw something, but once he was convinced there was nothing, he continued, "They left for a short while. And now the bastards are back."

It didn't really help, I thought, but I wasn't about to tell him that. Glancing at his features, he genuinely looked frightened. His family had the same look too, with their hands trembling and their eyebrows knitted together, their eyes wide.

A light suddenly passed by the window. The guy holding the curtains closed them quickly and ducked, holding his head in one hand and closing his eyes tightly.

To me, the light just looked like a torch light, like someone was walking along the streets shining it in all directions. I scuttled to the window and moved a little corner of the curtain for me to catch even a glimpse of what was out there.

A tall and broad man, hidden under a coat that resembled out enemies' a little, stood in the middle of the street right outside the house, holding a torch and pointing it at the houses as if he was looking for something. I tried to see who it was, but the hood hid most of his face, a trait that all the enemies we came across seemed to be adopting.

As his flashlight was set upon the house again, he stilled. I knew I should have done as the guy beside me had done, closing the curtain and ducking to hide myself. But, stupid as I was, I didn't. I froze and watched as the man stared back, and I was sure he had seen me. I could feel his eyes boring into my face, and there came a small flick of his gloved hand, a small frown on his lips.

For what seemed like minutes, we stared at one another and I feared what he was going to do. From what I had been told, no one in their right minds would go out on a night like this, where there was a possibility they would be taken away, or even killed. So my head concluded that he must have been one of them, one of the attackers, maybe even one of the ones that had taken my friends. Even knowing that, I couldn't hide in the gaze of this man.

I didn't realise I had been holding in my breath until I gasped when he took one step closer. No doubt, he saw me now. My body began to grow cold and shake as I saw shadows beginning to engulf his face, seeping in from his hood and falling downwards until his whole face was covered in darkness, just like the skin of those creatures. I really did think it was over then, that I had endangered my friends and brought this enemy to us. But I frowned in confusion as the enemy with the shadowy face turned away, cast his torchlight somewhere else, and moved further along the street. All that was left was the faint sound of the clacking of his shows upon the cobblestone.

I let out a deep breath and flinched as I felt a hand on my shoulder spin me around.

"That was stupid," Riku hissed. "We could have been caught! Did he see you?"

Shaking my head, I mumbled the lie, "No."

A group of sighs followed my answer as all tension suddenly vanished. The curtain fell back into place and everyone sat back, lying against the floor and the wall.

I wondered who that had been. Why had he acted like he didn't see me? I was sure he had. Were we not worth the effort for him? Was he not bothered to get us? Either way, it felt like the pressure that had been set on me as our gazes connected suddenly lifted from my chest. The danger and the evil air that surrounded him had me convinced that he definitely was not someone we should come across again.

It seemed that it was only then that we realised we were in a house with complete strangers. As if the thought had entered all of our heads at the same time, Riku, Hayner, Sora and I pressed ourselves against the wall and watched the owners with suspicion.

"Hey, hey, no need to be scared, we're not going to hurt you," the guy with the knife assured. As if to stress his point, he held up his hands and dropped the knife.

He had long brown hair, styled to flow nicely. He was tall and obviously worked out a lot, with his muscles that was clearly seen under his T-shirt. Beside him was a young woman with short black hair and a cheeky smile on her face. She reminded me a little bit of a rabbit, the way her energy just ebbed from her form, as if she was ready to just start jumping around the room at any minute.

He held out his hand to me, a faint smile playing on his lips. He introduced himself, "I'm Leon." Waving at the girl with the black hair, he said, "And this is Yuffie."

Reluctantly, I reached out and shook it. "I'm Roxas. These are Sora, Hayner and Sora."

Yuffie jumped over at me, her cute smile reaching her eyes. "So what brings you here? Can't be tourists, there really isn't anything interesting to see here."

Before I could even open my mouth, Riku beat me to the answer, quickly interjecting, "We were pushed out from our hometown. We're just travelling around until we find a place we can live."

It was clear it was a lie- Leon gave a slight smirk, showing that he knew, but neither pushed it. They nodded and took the lie, glancing once at the window before Leon asked, "Want something to eat? There's nothing else to do after all, seeing as we can't go out. And I doubt you'd want to sleep after this."

Hayner and Sora instantly shook their heads eagerly and followed the strangers as they retreated to the kitchen. But, for one, Riku and I seemed to be thinking the same thing. We glanced at each other, hesitant about these people we met. Suspicion rested in both our eyes, but the people we cared for trusted Leon and Yuffie, so we could do nothing but follow as they sat at the table.

As we sat down, eating a little food that was set before us, quickly filling our stomachs as we didn't know when we'd get the chance again, another explosion sounded in the town, shaking the foundations of the house. One followed soon after, closer to the house. But Leon and Yuffie seemed unconcerned, even when the soft sounds of footsteps passed the door of the house. Not once did they actually stop, but it sent shivers up my spine and I kept checking to make sure that the curtains were completely closed. I didn't want to turn and find the face of that man watching us through the window again.

Sora fell asleep besides me, rested his head on the table after he finished eating. It seemed that Hayner and Yuffie were soon to follow as their mouths widened into a yawn. But for Riku, Leon and I, we sat silently for the long slow hours that passed, making little conversation. In the end, we sat in silence, caught up in our own thoughts as the snores of the sleeping lightly invaded our hush.

**A/N: **_It's a little short, I know, and not much happened, but I'm still quite happy with the chapter. :) Anyway, I've introduced Leon and Yuffie! I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to bring them in, but it seemed like the right time, so I let them in. They won't be massively active in it though, so sorry for that! Haha. _


	22. Save Yourself In A City Of Monsters

A great knock from the door was what woke those who slept and startled those who stared into the distance. There was a moment of silence, an exchange of glances, before a voice came through the door.

"Hello? I know people are in there." Immediately, I knew that the voice on the other side was not a friendly one. It growled in warning, and I was sure that if there came no answer any time soon, that door would be knocked from its hinges.

"Sorry, Sir, I was dozing off," Yuffie called. She quickly pulled on Leon's sleeve, giving him a pointed stare, before she skipped to the door.

Before we got the chance to see who was on the other side, Leon grabbed Hayner's arm and tugged him up the stairs, Riku, Sora and me following closely behind. Without any words of warning from him, we could tell by Leon's face that it was dangerous for us to be seen by the guy who had come calling. It was once we were clear from the line of sight that Yuffie opened the door and welcomed the person behind the door.

We were shoved into a small room on the first floor. Leon held a finger to his lips as he disappeared back down stairs.

"What the hell…" Hayner muttered.

Only once I was straining did I hear the voices that carried through the floorboards. But what they were saying escaped my ears. I wanted to know who it had been. The fear that quickly sparked through Yuffie's eyes as the voice first spoke didn't go unnoticed by me. But then again, living in a place like this, what wouldn't make you scared?

"I can't hear them," I whispered.

"Neither can I," Sora replied.

"Come look at this," Riku said cautiously.

I walked over to him and glanced through the gap he had created in the curtains down into the street. In the light of the morning sun, the streets shone, a lot more lively than they had been when we had first arrived. But the glow that the streets created was neither beautiful nor warming. It was a monstrous glow. It looked fake, as if it was simply a copy of the light that the sun emitted. It was like a disguise that the streets had been forced to take, as if the real light that had once filled this place was gone, only to be replaced with darkness that was covered by a mask during the day, but showed its real nature once the sun set and night came along. Night was when this town came alive.

But that wasn't what Riku had meant. He meant the people that walked those fake streets.

There were more people than there had been when we arrived. On their faces were fake smiles, hiding away their true feelings. Their eyes were dead, stripped from all emotion, as if there was a punishment to show anything but endless black pools of darkness. They walked so slowly, like each and every step caused endless pain, or like they were in no rush to get to where they were going. As they passed each other, they gave the same smile, said the same things, and moved on. There was not one group that stayed in a corner and laughed away. No one stopped. No one bothered to talk to each other beyond a greeting. There was nothing but fear and distrust that lined these people's faces.

"That's wrong," Sora murmured. "We have to do something."

Before Sora could go anywhere, Riku threw out his arm to hold him in his place. "Not until we figure out what's going on. What help can we be otherwise?" Riku narrowed his eyes in concentration. "This place reeks of darkness."

We all stilled as a floor board creaked right outside the room. Our breathing halted and all eyes turned on the door. Without much thought, I placed myself in front of all of them, knowing that Hayner couldn't fight and there was no way I'd let Sora fight either. But, inside, I was a little scared. Sure, I'd fight to the death, but this place, it all scared me and the looks on those people's faces just sent fear right down to my core.

"What are you doing there?" Leon bellowed, his angry strides rattling the floor.

"Got something to hide in here?" came an amused voice, a small chuckle following his words.

"I have nothing to hide."

I gulped. I admitted, Leon was good at lying, but it didn't seem to convince whoever was about to open the door. The silence, dragging on, was not one that was convinced entirely. As if to prove a point, whoever was on the other side of the door turned the handle slightly.

I moved backwards, forcing the three behind me to back up to the window.

But the handle didn't turn fully. The person didn't open the door. In fact, he let go of the handle and stepped away. There was silence once again, but I could hear their breaths as they stared at each other, a silent challenge lingering in their faces, of which I was sure was happening.

"I can smell them, you know," the voice gave as a chilling response.

Riku gasped behind me.

The voice continued. "If you're hoping to hide them, it's no use. They're outsiders. They stick out like a sore thumb. May as well just give them up before you're dragged down with them." Without another word of warning, the door suddenly burst open, almost flying off of its hinges.

My eyes narrowed, my teeth bared and my heart gave a massive thud as I stared at the figure. It was something like the one we had seen the night before, the one with the torch, but there was something different about it. Its face was the same, completely overtaken with the black mist, no features, but the glowing yellow eyes. It wore a baggy hoodie and black jeans, along with some old and worn converse. The hands of the figure were bandaged up. It was like the monsters that our enemy had made, just that it was human shaped, and its eyes were much, much more freaky looking. But I stared back into its yellow pits, even as my heart threatened to stop, even as I was sure my knees were buckling, because I could not show weakness to something that wasn't even human.

"If I can find you, so can the rest. I'd advise you to leave before they trap you in here." The shoulders, covered by the black hoodie, shrugged and I was sure that if that creature had a mouth it would be smirking as us. "But if you're sole set on what you're trying to achieve, by all means, stay." It turned away, shoving one of its bandaged hands into its pockets while the other was lifted up into a lazy wave. "I want to see how this turns out."

We all stood silent for a while, our eyes glued to where the creature had disappeared. Our spell was only broken once we heard the door slam and when Yuffie ran up the stairs, noticed the open door and sighed.

Two had already seen us. It was only stupid luck that they both hadn't felt the need to capture us, then and there. We thought we were good at hiding, since we Nobodies needed to do it all the time, our whole existence being created to be a secret anyway, but we had met a challenge. We needed to be more careful, learn to hide properly before we were dragged somewhere we had no clue about.

But before we did that, we needed to find somewhere else. They knew we were here.

I was the one who broke the silence. "Get everything. We're leaving."

All eyes turned on me. No one said anything, but I knew what they were thinking.

"They know we're here," I explained. "It's only because of luck that we were found by someone who isn't bothered to take us in." I sighed and made my way down the stairs, aware that all others were following me. "It'll be stupid to stay here. We need to leave and find somewhere else, find a way to mask our scent and figure things out there and then."

"You want to go out in that street?" Riku asked, incredulous. "Did you not see them? They'll immediately know that we're outsiders. Even if we mask our scent, they'll know. It's just as dangerous."

"Then we borrow some clothes and adopt the same habits as they do. But it can't take long. What guarantee is there that that… _thing_ won't go back and tell his buddies that we're here?"

"We have clothes," Yuffie offered. "And we know how they act like. We can help you."

I turned to her, a sudden thought occurring to me. "If you're not outsiders, then why aren't you like the rest?"

She gave a sad smile, as if she had expected this all along. "Most of them actually aren't like that. It's only a few, those who gave up, that look like that. But you learn not to stick out here. You act like everyone else. If we have to go outside, Leon and I have to act like that and wear the same tattered clothes just to fit in."

"Then why did you hide us? That's one way of sticking out."

"We haven't given up hope."

Her answer caught me off guard, but I gave her a small smile too.

For the next two hours, they taught us everything they knew on how we had to act and what we had to do. It was a fun time, smiles in a dark world of grey and danger. But, all too soon, it was over, and we were forced to be ready to leave. We threw our clothes into the bin, setting it on fire and taking the clothes that we were offered. The clothes hadn't been washed, which was pretty disgusting, but for the mean time it would out-stink our own smell.

"We'll always be here," Yuffie gave as a goodbye. "If you ever need us, for anything, come back and we'll help in any way we can."

Leon nodded in agreement. "We'll keep an eye out and ask around, find any information we can to help you guys. If we find anything worth knowing about, we'll find you somewhere."

I gave them a nod. As I turned, Leon quickly reached out and grabbed my arm. He leaned in, his lips close to my ear before he whispered so that only I could hear, "It must be scary, risking everything on one person."

I glanced up at him and he gave me a small smile as he glanced at Yuffie.

In that one glance, I understood. I gave him a silent question in my eyes and he gave a sad nod.

"Yeah, she's my Original."

He let go of my arm, and I gave him a worried look. But he waved his hand and shook his head as a simple reply. To have your Original here, in a place so dangerous... But I could see why he stayed here, it was clear in his eyes. Every Nobody followed their Original, and his Original clearly wanted to stay here.

Yuffie gave us a small wave and I waved back. Then we walked out of the door and into the populated street. Immediately, we blended in, hunching over and staring at the ground, our heads hidden in the old hats that we had been given. The door closed and we were shut off from the ones who had taken care of us.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll see them again," Sora assured as he saw the look in my face.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure you're right."

But I couldn't help but look back at that house and feel the connection I had with the Nobody that lived there.

"Right, _oh great leader_, where to now?" Hayner asked sarcastically.

I gave him a small glare and he returned a smile. "We need to find somewhere that houses a lot of people, like an apartment building or something. There's less of a chance of being suspicious if we're hidden by other people, rather than finding somewhere abandoned."

"Great, but have any idea where this place is?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Mr Pessimist."

"Something like that would be more towards the centre of the town, the ideal place if we _want_ to be caught," Riku invaded.

I turned on him and snapped, "Got any better ideas."

"No, but I'll think of one later."

"Good, so on to the centre we go."

Blending in with the crowd, we trudged along the street, our heads bowed and our eyes staring at the floor. I kept myself close to Sora, as did Riku. We glanced at each other, a mutual understanding connecting us – we protect Hayner and Sora, no matter what.

As we reached the centre, things got worse. Above the roves of the houses, figures cloaked in shadows watched the streets bellow with their hungry yellow eyes. They stood perfectly still, apart from their eyes that flicked to the side at any sign of suspicious movement. Under their gaze, I felt myself shiver, but managed to keep up the disguise nevertheless. I narrowed my eyes and held my breath, but their eyes wandered away from us and I let out the breath.

But, as our bodies relaxed, one of the monsters raised a shadowy finger and pointed at someone in the crowd, someone not far away from us. Suddenly, all those who had been on the roves, apart from the one who gave the signal, jumped onto the unsuspecting woman in the streets. Before she could even utter a word, she was dragged away, consumed by the darkness that grew from the floor. Where she stood was now empty and the creatures jumped back to their posts. As if it had never happened, those around the spot continued to walk to wherever their destination was.

We all squinted at each other, a collective intake of breath. Every single step of the way was proving to be more of a challenge than we expected. One wrong step and we were dead.

**A/N: **_Hey and thank you for reading :) Well, this seems to be one of the longest chapters I've written! There was just a lot to put in! What do you think of where it's going? I'd like to know your thoughts. Also, anyone, feel free to PM me anything about this if you have any questions or anything you don't like! Would love to hear from you. _


	23. Destiny

Once we reached an old, worn down, crumbling apartment block, we had walked for a good half-hour. It was near the centre, as we had thought, but it really did look less suspicious than if we had found anywhere else.

With the little money that Leon had pushed into our pockets, we paid for an apartment. Only a small one, with only one bedroom where Riku and I agreed that Sora and Hayner should sleep, a small kitchen attached to a small living space, and that was about it. But it was more than enough for us. We didn't plan on living here for long, anyway. Get our friends and get out- that was the plan, though by now we should have realised that our plans never went as we wanted them to.

We threw our stuff down and agreed that before we made any sort of move, we needed rest and food. So Sora made his way to the kitchen, pulling out any sort of ingredients that we had brought from Yuffie and Leon's and began to somehow make some sort of edible meal.

While that was going on, we sat on the floor around the low table and began to make our next plan of action.

I glanced at Riku as I played with the sleeve of my top. "So.. you were able to tell that they were here right? Our enemies, I mean."

He turned his head and watched me suspiciously, nodding slowly with caution.

"Then, can you find where they're hiding?"

He sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head on the palm of his hand as he did so. "Probably. It would take me some time. There are so many here that reek of the same stench that it would it'll be difficult to pin point where exactly."

"Reek? Stench?" I narrowed my eyes.

But it was as if he didn't care that he let the information get out. He just nodded and said nothing more.

Piece by piece, I was slowly beginning to understand this boy besides me. It wasn't like he was trying to keep secrets, I realised, he just wasn't bothered to tell you what he thought or what he could do. He'd give me little pieces, as he did now, and then leave me hanging, more confused that I had been before. He was just that type. I could see that by the smirk on his face when he glanced at my muddled expression.

Sora placed the dishes on the table and almost immediately we dig in.

"Ha lon' d'you t'ink you'll take?" I slurred with a mouthful of food.

"I don't know. I'll go out in the morning, take a go at it, see if I can find any sort of clues or if there is a distinction in the stenches," Riku replied, wiping the food from his lips with the sleeve of his shirt. "I'll only have an idea then."

I let out a deep breath of frustration. We had spent too much time out of it already. For all we knew, Naminé and her group could have already been killed, or were in a lot of pain right now. We had no idea what they were going through, and we had to waste another several hours before we could do anything at all. Even then, there was no guarantee that we could even do this. Here, in the most dangerous place we had been, right in the enemy lair, we had no clues, no idea, no plan and no way out. What else could we do though? I knew that was all we _could _do, but I couldn't help but think of what they must have been going through.

"It'll be fine," Sora whispered to me, reaching out and placing a hand on my shoulder. "We'll find them."

I gave a sad smile and nodded. "Yeah. Of course we will."

* * *

Morning came ever so slowly. While Sora and Hayner slept in the only bed, Riku and I slept on the floor with some blankets we had bought from a seller outside the apartments. I lay awake all night, with my arms behind my head and the ceiling being the only thing that was in my view. I knew Riku was awake too- I could hear him tossing and turning the whole night, but either he thought I was asleep or he just didn't want to talk to me.

But, at about five in the morning, I was the one who started a conversation after I heard his deep sigh.

"I met Sora when Xigbar and Saix were threatening me behind the school building," I mumbled the answer from one of his old questions. It wasn't exactly a lie… but it really wasn't the truth either. Not that he would find that out. "He came to save me. If it wasn't for him, I don't know what they would have done to me. That's how we met."

When there came no answer, I turned my head to find him staring at me, his eyes narrowed in confusion.

"After I was injured, he refused to leave my side until I got help. I wasn't even that badly hurt." I chuckled at the memory. It was the first time I had had a proper conversation with him, and even if it had been because of something like an injury, I couldn't deny that having a conversation with my Original had made me feel whole. Even if I knew that he would be the one to kill me, I wouldn't ever have wished that I never met him. "We just kind of hit it off then, and we became friends."

Riku stared at me for a while, and I only stared back. I would have given a lot then to know what he was thinking at that time. But he gave no emotion in his face, not a clue to give me, but he glanced over my shoulder to avoid my eyes and I saw the determination in his eyes. Somehow, he had seen that I meant no harm to Sora. He found comfort in the words that I had given him.

"I really don't mean any harm to him, Riku," I assured and I saw his mouth twitch in response. "He's a friend. I wouldn't have brought him here if he hadn't been so stubborn."

"I know," he uttered, closing his eyes.

"If I could have left him out of this, I would have."

"I know."

I bit my lip in thought as I stared at his face. "Riku? Do you believe in destiny?"

He cracked open his eyes and stared curiously at me. "What?"

"Like… Like you're chosen…or something… to do something, and there's nothing else you can do." This time, it was my turn to avoid his eyes. I turned onto my back and returned to staring at the ceiling. "What you're chosen to do might not be a bad thing, but… it's still not what you wanted out of life."

I could feel his eyes glance over me and I gulped at how stupid I sounded. Of course, now he knew something was up. As if I could be more obvious. But I seriously wanted another's opinion, or even an answer that I myself might not have been able to find. And I knew that Riku wouldn't ask too many questions, if any at all, which was probably why I had asked him before anyone else. I could have asked Hayner, but he would have simply said that I was the only thing we could do. And that would be that.

"I guess," he replied, finally. He spoke slowly, as if taking care with each word that he wanted to give to me. "But someone should still be able to feel like they have a choice. I think, even if your course has been set by whatever this 'destiny' thing is, someone should still feel like they have some sort of freedom. If you hate what you've been set up for, then do something that goes against it. If it's pre-set, it'll just end up the same way anyway, but at least you've done all that you could to avoid it. Ho harm in trying."

"But what if going against it may get someone hurt? Or even killed?"

"What happens if you go with it though? Will someone die then?"

Reluctantly, I nodded. I was thankful to him for not asking what kind of situation I was in, or asking who would die. It was like it was all hypothetical, like it wasn't about my near death at all. It was kind of nice, I admitted.

"Then go with the one you want. Which one is more important for you?"

"Yeah, thanks, Riku." So there really was only one way out for me in this. I really did have to die. That I knew from the start, but… now it just all seemed so much more real.

* * *

"Waaaaaaaaaaake uuuuuuuuuuuup!"

I grumbled as I was rudely shaken awake. I tried to push the hands away, but they just came back more persistent.

"Go away…" I murmured.

"No."

I squinted up at the lights and shielded my eyes from their burning. Whoever woke me up would pay for this!

"Breakfast is ready and if you don't wake up in the next five seconds I'll eat your share."

I bolted up as my stomach rumbled. "You dare and you will live to regret it." I glared at Hayner, whom I now targeted. Once my stomach was full, he would taste my wrath.

Once at the table, I noticed that there were only three of us.

"Where's Riku?" I began to rub the small of my back, feeling the ache of the hours from lying on the cold wooden floor of a broken apartment.

"Gone out to look for clues already," Sora sighed.

I was guessing that he had gone out before we had woken up, or argued with Sora to go out on his own, because Sora really didn't look happy about it at all.

"Why'd he go out on his own?" I exclaimed.

Sora shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Because he's Riku and he likes to do things on his own."

I heard the annoyance in his voices. Clearly they had argued about this, and not just on this occasion.

After my mouthful of cereal, I stood up and stretched. "Well, I'll go looking for him then. I'll help him." I stared pointedly at Hayner with eyes full of worry. I mouthed to him, "Take care of him."

He gave me a small smile and a nod, assuring me that they would be alright.

"Will you be alright?" Sora asked, hurrying to me and clutching at my arm.

"I'll be fine." With that, I left and moved my way into the street. Immediately, I was lost. I didn't know which way out of the hundreds of possibilities that Riku could have gone. Already I thought this was a bad idea, and it was made worse when the monsters on the top of the buildings turned their eyes onto me.

I felt my skin squirm as I felt their gazes boring into me. I pulled up my hood and copied what everyone else was doing, which was acting as lifeless as they could. After a while, I felt their stares leaving me and I was finally able to relax.

I didn't know how long I wandered around, but I didn't find Riku. Wherever he had gone, I couldn't find him. So, after a while, I decided to go back, hoping that maybe Riku had found what he wanted and gone back too. It didn't take me long to realise how completely and utterly lost I was, and that I had wandered into the worst part of the place.

The houses here were worn down completely, so much that I didn't dare go near in case they suddenly collapsed. The walls were littered with graffiti of names of gangs or of curses or just simply a message to those whose eyes would find it. Those who wandered the streets were caked with mud and dirt with torn clothes and a crazy look in their eyes. But they all stayed away from me. It was like they knew I was an outsider and they daren't go near me.

The feeling of the place was horrible and it weighed me down, drawing the breath from my lungs. I had thought that the main body of the town was bad, but this was far worse. Not even those monsters bothered with here, I soon realised. There were none of them on patrol on the top of the buildings.

I quickly shuffled my way around, trying to find a way out. The stares off of these people put me more on edge than those monsters had!

By the time I had finally reached what I thought was the end of this terror, breaking through the barrier of their land and the normal town again, I was running. But I was brought to a sudden halt as I slammed into someone in front of me.

Rubbing my nose, I glanced up, an apology set on my lips, before I saw the face of the person I had run into.

"Well, well, well, never expected to see you here, Roxas," Saix purred with a threatening smirk.

**A/N: **_Well, I thought it had been a while since he was in, so I thought it was a great time to bring him in once again! But he's here for a reason, of course. It's the same with Axel and Xion. They should be coming in soon, but I just won't tell you when! I do kind of miss them here. :( haha. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! _


	24. Results Of A Stray

My breath caught in my throat as I backed up slowly. My eyes were glued to him, to the dangerous glint in his eye and the half-smile that he gave. But my courage was just as strong as my fear was, and I stood with a high chin and looked in right in the eye.

"You're with them," I stated. Though I already knew that it must have been true, this just brought proof to my eyes.

He narrowed his eyes and his smirk grew. "Now, now, just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm one of them."

"Then what are you doing here?" I became aware that with each passing second, he took a small step closer.

I reached into my trouser pocket and gripped the hilt of the knife I had brought from the apartment with me. The movement didn't go unnoticed by his hawk-like eyes. I gritted my teeth and brought the knife out. It gleamed mercilessly in the slight lamp light.

He chuckled, sending uncomfortable shivers up my spine. "We had a plan, Roxas. Even with those warnings, we knew you would come after us." He stopped right in front of me and reached out, grabbing the collar of my top and pulling me right up close to him. "Even when you could die, even when everything you were made for could all slip away, even when the threat is so obviously staring you in the face, you will always come looking for trouble, won't you? I knew that, so I left you to it. A better plan that Xigbar's idea to just drag you somewhere and torture you, right?"

I swallowed, well aware of the knife in my hand. But I couldn't bring myself to just stab him. This was my chance to hear something, to finally find out what these people were about or what they wanted.

The grin on his face suddenly vanished, ripped from his lips as his eyes blazed with hateful fire. "I hate your kind. You… You _Nobodies_." He gave a sickening laugh. "That's exactly what you are. How apt! Brought up to be everything to the ones you're destined to find, only to be forgotten and taken down by their very hands!" He slammed me into the wall behind. "What makes you so special? If you're going to die anyway, why do you have to have a purpose? What about us? We're just as good as you!"

He suddenly let go of me and I slid down the wall. I gazed up at him, feeling the emotions that he gave off in the heated words he screamed. I felt it all there- all of the stress, the betrayal, the secrets, all of the hurt that he had felt in his lifetime. Whenever I had seen him walking the halls of school, he was always the calm one, the one that everyone thought had it held so easily together. It was Xigbar you needed to stay away from, the one everyone thought was going to lose it. But, in the end, it was always Saix that was the one who would eventually snap.

"Your Originals are just as bad! So weak in the beginning, needing the help of someone else, then just killing them off like they mean nothing." He turned away from me, watching the empty alleys and he sighed sadly. "You could be so powerful! If you broke free from the routine your kind have, you could have the whole world at your feet. You could learn new things. You could actually _live._ But you're all so stubborn. You all listen to that leader of yours. But he isn't even one of you. He's an Original! He killed one of your kind, and he _remembers_ it!"

I stood up on shaky legs, taking deep breaths and trying to be as silent as I could. The knife was clutched tightly in my hands and my eyes were trained carefully on his back. I decided to stop listening. It was all too confusing for me. It only confirmed my suspicions that our enemies hated us and wanted to get us out of the way.

He turned to me and his smirk had returned. I gasped and stilled. He whispered into the cool air, "But we're stronger. We're far stronger than you can ever become. No matter what you do, you can never defeat us." He walked closer to me, so close that I could feel his breath on my face. "After all, who can beat a better version of themselves?"

"W-What?" I stammered.

"Just like DiZ has defied convention, our leader di too," he chuckled.

I stared in straight in the eye, my body suddenly robbed of all its warmth. "You…. Mean…"

He nodded his head and whispered darkly in my ear, "Yes, our leader was a Nobody, just like you. But he didn't wait to be killed off. When his time came, he ignored the call. Well, for a little while anyway. He devoted his time to study and helped us with our strength. _He_ was the one who came up with the Heartless."

"Heatless?"

"Those little monsters we call on. He made them. One of your own helped us destroy you. Don't you feel betrayed?"

Honestly, I did. I always thought that we Nobodies had high morals, all with the same determination to bring a lie to our Originals and that we all understood each other's' feelings. We all knew what was expected of us, and we would always help each other. When our time came, it was the most special time for us. For someone to ignore that, I felt hurt by that alone. It was our duty. How could someone ignore that? But to then make something that could possibly kill us all off? Did that Nobody really hate us and their duty that much? What had we done to deserve this? But if he felt that strongly about Nobodies, that hatred would be even stronger towards the Originals.

"What happened to him?" I asked with a choked voice.

"What happened?" He took a deep breath and gazed into my eyes. "The call was too strong in the end, apparently. He was killed by his Original ten years ago before he was able to perfect the Heartless. His son took over and we've finally done it. We, the few people who know what's going on with your sick connections of protect and kill, decided to end it by destroying you all."

Hesitantly, I asked, "And why are you telling me this?"

Suddenly, his clenched fist pounded into my stomach, bringing stars to my eyes. "Why? Because you're not going to be around to tell anyone else."

Before he could make another move, I brought up the knife and plunged it into Saix's stomach. He doubled over in pain and blood splattered onto the floor.

"You were one of the ones to beat me up that night. You were one of the ones who burnt down my home. And you took away my friends." A low growl lined my voice, born from the mix of pain from the punch and the pure anger that I felt shimmer deep inside my body. "I will never let anything like this happen again."

I raised my knife, ready to strike again, but he chuckled and said, "You see them, don't you? The ghosts of the past Nobodies. They're there because they feel a change. They're there because they can feel that this is the end of the whole thing. And those dreams you're getting, the ones that feel so real. Want to know what they're about?"

"Get out of my head!" I exclaimed. I charged at him, plunging the knife back into his shoulder. He didn't even cry out in pain. He just held my gaze the entire time, still with the smirk on his face. Even as he fell to the floor, blood seeping through the craps in the pavement, with his eyes losing their life, they still watched me. I fell against the wall and slid down, shaking.

I hadn't killed before. I always knew that I may end up having to if Sora was in danger. But now that it hit me, it really did _hit_ me. I hated him. But it still hurt. And with everything that he told me, it just made me feel even worse. I had to get Sora out of here now and get my friends another time, and do it alone. I wouldn't take no for an answer. I wouldn't let Sora do as he wanted anymore.

As I got up and walked along the pavement a bit, trying to get as far away from the body as I could, I focused all of my energy on walking. My knees buckled and more than a few times I almost collapsed. But my determination to save Sora far exceeded my fears.

"Roxas!"

I glanced over my shoulder to find Riku running towards me. I froze, aware of the bloody knife and the spots of blood on my clothes. I turned away and tried to hide the blood as best as I could.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked as he jogged to a stop close to me.

"Came looking for you," I replied, looking away from him. "It's fine. Let's go back now."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." As I began to walk, he grabbed my arm and spun me around. He took in the droplets of blood and his eyes grew wide before they turned to mine with a silent question of worry.

I was about to open my mouth, defend myself, tell him that it wasn't what he thought and that I had killed someone to protect the friend we both had, but a movement in the corner of my eye stopped me. A man in a coat stepped from the shadows, a sly smirk on his face. To my left, there was another one. One the roves of the houses stepped out the monsters, their yellow eyes boring into me.

A whisper made its way to my ear: "It's time for a hunt…"

I pushed Riku away and murmured desperately, "Go back. Protect Sora and Hayner. Do everything you can. I'll be back soon."

I expected him to argue. But he must have seen the look in my face because he just nodded and ran off, disappearing into the gloom. I gulped as the enemies drew in, their eyes watching me like prey. But I'd go down trying if I had to.

I took my knife out and held it out before me. They just laughed at my efforts, but I could feel the strength I needed course through my blood. Before one even got close to me, I lunged forwards and stabbed the first man that caught my eye. He screeched and fell backwards. I turned and stabbed the next closest one, catching them only by the thigh, but it was enough to distract them while I could punch at their face.

While they were busy tending to their wounded, I ran as fast as I could. I heard the shouts and the whoosh of the wind as the monsters – or Heartless as Saix had called them- set after me. I glanced back and saw that their speed was far, far better than mine. It wouldn't be long before they caught up to me.

But I hadn't really planned on getting away. I had sent Riku on his own because I knew that even with his help we'd only be caught. It was better to have someone there to save Sora and Hayner.

Especially when I knew that I wouldn't be seeing them for a while.

**A/N: **_Getting into the habit of updating frequently now! :D Woohoo! Well, I've been planning this bit for a while now, and I imagined it being closer than now, but I just got so swooped along with the other ones that it ended up being later. Getting a little closer to the end now. I'd say it's about half way there, maybe a bit more than that. So not long now anyway :) _


	25. Unbreakable Heart

I knew I was going to be caught. Yeah, that was obvious. But that didn't mean I didn't try my damn hardest to get away.

It was like the town had suddenly been completely stripped of the fake identity it held during the little time we had spent here. Anyone who had been out was gone, with no trace that they had ever existed. They must have been way too frightened to even try to help someone like me. As I ran through the unfamiliar maze, as the cold breeze slammed into me, I could hear the manic giggles of the Heartless as they enjoyed this game of chase. Some melted in with the road and played with my fear as they popped out right in front of me, their yellow eyes flickering with fun.

They didn't try catching me seriously at first. This was all just a cat and mouse game to them because they knew as well as I did that I wouldn't get away. But when I brought out the knife and stabbed the closest Heartless, causing it to erupt into a mist of darkness, they turned serious. Their giggles change to demented growls and their claws clung to me as they tried to drag me down.

I tried my best to fight them off. I fought with all of my might. But once on had a hold of me, the rest caught up and jumped on to me, pulling me down on to the cobble floor. I screamed for help and thrashed around, but like they were water, I began to sink down and gasped for breath as their black forms engulfed me.

The last thing I saw was the smirk of one of the men in the coats. Then there was nothing but endless darkness, just like one of the dreams I had. But, this time, I could hear them talking.

"Where do we take him?"

I froze and listened. The creatures had finally let go and I was standing on what seemed like a void of nothing. I was a little scared that I would fall, but after waiting a few seconds, I realised I was just going to stay in the air like that.

"Do we keep him with the others?"

"Yes, just throw him in with them."

Suddenly, the invisible floor collapsed from under me and I fell fast down into the darkness. I cried out as I finally hit something.

"Just keep him there. He can't do much more harm to us."

I groaned and rubbed the back of my head. I something drip from my fingers. Bringing it to my half-closed heavy eyes, I saw the red blood that painted my skin. I looked around and saw that I was in a big bricked room with no windows and no door. Only low swinging lights hung from the cold ceiling.

"Roxas!" someone called.

Through my blurry vision, I saw a figure running towards me. She knelt beside me, holding me in her lap as she frantically looked over the back of my head. Her worried eyes connected with mine and small tears burned at the corners.

"Naminé," I mumbled. All of the relief I felt at her survival came out in only that name I spoke.

She gave me a sad smile. "Hey, there, you," she chocked out.

"I'm fine," I assured. "How are you?" I looked over her, seeing that she wore a dirty old white T-shirt and some baggy, worn light brown trousers and no shoes. Glancing over her shoulder, I saw the other Nobodies that had gone missing, all wearing the same old thing. So, it was like the uniform or something here then for prisoners?

"What are you doing here, Roxas?" she demanded.

I gazed back at her and painfully shrugged. "They caught me."

"Sora-!"

"_Is fine_. I made sure he was fine."

She nodded and gave a sigh.

"How are you? How are all of you?" I repeated, noticing that she had avoided it the first time. I then noticed that her eyes turned away from mine and her head bowed.

"We're fine," she said quietly and hesitantly.

Yeah, that wasn't getting past me. "Who got hurt?"

She didn't even try to lie to me once she sensed my urgency. "You remember that kid, the one that came in a year before I did, the one with the spiked black hair, kind of chubby and small?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Pence, right?" I didn't really know him. He was just a familiar face I saw with the other Nobodies. We had sometimes played darts or something against each other, but that's about all. I couldn't even say we were friends.

"Yes. Him. Well, when it was our time to go out and fight, we were ambushed by the creatures. They jumped us from out of the trees and blocked all of our escapes. They picked us off, one by one, and brought us here. We all tried to fight and get out, but they said they needed to show an example of what would happen if we carried on." She paused and met my eyes. She knew I knew what was coming, but she continued anyway, probably because she needed to tell _someone_ after what she had seen. "So they picked Pence and set the creatures on him."

"Where is he? Have they taken him somewhere?" My eyes strayed to the group behind, desperately trying to find the little guy somewhere there. But he wasn't.

"He's dead, Roxas. They killed him."

It didn't register at first. I still expected to see him in the group and wave at me with the smile I used to see him wear. But it hurt when I finally realised the meaning of her words. The poor guy, killed off by those Heartless.

"What happens to his Original?" So many questions filled my mind. This must have been the first time that a Nobody had died without the help of their Original. Pence's duty hadn't been finished. What did this mean? Who would take care of his other half? What would happen to them?

She shrugged. "I don't think he even met his Original yet?"

"Huh?" That just made it worse. Without his Nobody there, what would happen to the Original? We were only here because they needed out help. Without our help, what would happen to them? What would Sora do if I wasn't there?

"There's a chance that his Original won't make it, not without someone there to save him," she answered, as if reading my mind.

I could see the fear in her eyes. She hadn't met her purpose yet either, and if she died here, then her life of training and waiting would end up being meaningless if it mean the death of the person her life stood for. I was lucky, I had actually met Sora, and I believed that I had at least managed to save him a little and guide him to save himself if I wasn't there.

"Maybe it'll be fine, Naminé." But I couldn't be sure of my own words.

"Maybe it won't," whispered one of the other Nobodies.

Silence followed. Any meaningless words of reassurance would be wasted breath here, and we all knew it. There wasn't a way out we could think of, seeing as the way we had come had been through the Heartless, and all that waited for us was the hatred that our captors held. It was only a matter of time before we'd end up like Pence, leaving our purposes alone in the world to fend for themselves.

"I've come for Roxas," came a booming voice.

I glanced up from Naminé's lap. In the black bricked wall, bars grew bars grew and the rubble melted away to show a hall with the same dimly lit hanging lights. A man in the coat stood on the other side of the bars and instantly recognised his shape.

"Seifer," I sighed.

He threw down his hood and rolled his eyes at me in greeting. "I need to take you to someone. He wants to see you."

Couldn't have been more vague, could he? I nodded and lifted myself up, welcoming my senses to a sudden dizziness. Naminé tried to stop me by lightly tugging at my sleeve, but I brushed her off and trudged my way dizzily to the bars. If I was going to find anything out, now was the time. Nothing to lose, right?

The bars slid open and locked into place again once I was on the other side. Seifer immediately grabbed a hold of my arm and dragged me away from the wall that began to close again, brick by brick, obscuring my view of the Nobodies I had left behind.

"So, who is this guy you're taking me to meet?"

"Our leader."

I lightly gasped, but he didn't hear. This was the son of the man who had betrayed us. Was he a Nobody? Most probably not. It wasn't passed on through the family, just chosen at random.

"What kind of guy is he?"

"You'll know when you see him."

For a while, as we pushed through the hall that seemed to go on for miles, I tried to make conversation with him. I knew that Sora felt a little pity for him, and that had brushed off a little on me, but I realised how frustrated I could be with him after his stubbornness refused to let him answer any of my questions. How could I feel pity for someone who just wouldn't listen to me?

After what seemed like hours, we finally reached a plain wooden door. He pushed it lightly and it swung open. On the other side was a blindingly white room. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw the expensive furniture (also white) that littered the room. Old oil paintings hung from the walls, depicting landscapes and portraits dating back to centuries ago. Chandeliers with bright bulbs hung from the high ceiling, carved with flowers and other extremely detailed patterns. The floor was covered in cold and insanely clean tiles, with not a spec of dirt. With no other doors, I wondered if this was it to their base - Just this room, the hall and the prison cell. But as I turned around, I saw that the wooden door was gone, replaced by a white wall and a portrait painting that had been slightly burned in the right top corner.

I noted down in my head that there must have been other secret doors that could disappear and reappear just like this one. I felt my hope plummet. Any idea of escape was thrown away then.

Seifer elbowed me and I turned quickly. On the other side of the room was an expensive white washed wooden table, long enough to fit ten people. On it was a mess of papers, equipment and what seemed hundreds of pens and pencils. Behind it was a tall-backed white chair with a figure sat comfortably in it.

I couldn't see the top-half of the man's face, but I saw the unwelcoming smirk that he gave me. He wore a coat like the others, but it only came to his hips, more like a jacket than a coat, really. He rested his elbow on the carved arm chair and placed his cheek on his hand. His other hand was busy clicking away at a pen he had grabbed at random.

A chill ran through me. He seemed no older than me, and yet he gave off an aura of terrible danger, one that someone my age would never be able to achieve – not even Riku. Without even a word from him, I already feared him. And he could sense that. He grinned at me, showing his gleaming teeth and chuckled slightly to himself.

He raised his hand with the pen and gave a short wave. On cue, Seifer turned to the right and disappeared through a door that grew from the wall. Then I was left alone with this nutter.

I avoided his gaze at first, fearful of what he would be able to see in my eyes. But he slammed his fist on the table and I flinched away, my eyes seeking out his.

"Roxas," he spoke into the air, as if tasting the name instead of actually addressing me. "Suits you." He yawned, stood up and reached up to the ceiling, stretching his arms. I watched him intently as he walked around the table, faced me and held out his hand, beckoning to me. "You're the one."

Without knowing why I was doing it, I reluctantly stepped towards him, my own hand reaching out to grab his. Once I felt his cold hand in mine, sending shivers up my spine, he grabbed tightly and pulled me quickly, sending my flying over the table and into the chair on the other side. He bellowed his laughter, slamming his fist onto the table.

"Should have seen your _face_!" he gasped out.

I turned in the seat and glared weakly at him. He just shook his head and wiped a mock tear from his cheek.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you, not just yet," he secured, pulling himself up onto the table to sit cross-legged in front of me. "I have massive plans for you – you _and_ your Original."

**A/N: **_I wonder who has guessed who their leader is? I hope it's not too obvious, but I'm terrible at keeping things like this hidden or making it a surprise! Anyway, hoped you liked it and please tell me what you think. :)Thank you!_


	26. I'll Never Bow 'Till I'm Six Feet Under

"You dare touch my Original, I'll kill you!" I growled.

He shook his head as his smirk grew wider. He lifted his finger and wiggled it at me. "Now, now, bad Roxas," he chuckled. "If you haven't already noticed, you can't get out. Wouldn't it be a shame if your Original was put in the same situation?"

I leaned back in the chair and stared where I knew his eyes were hidden under the shadow of the hood. Sora would have been terrified if he was brought here. I wouldn't be able to protect him as much as I would have liked, and they would probably separate us. In the end, there was no doubt that they would kill one of us off, if not the both of us.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked reluctantly.

He placed a hand onto my shoulder and I shivered at the contact. I didn't need to see the rest of his face to know that he gave me the most dangerous look he had. I was in his hands now, he knew that and he had known it would come to it in the end. How could I go against it? If I hadn't met Sora yet, then I might have had a chance to get away. I wouldn't have anything to hold me back. But I had him to care for now, and he was worth more than my own life. Of course, he knew that. And of course, he used that to his advantage.

"Good choice," he complimented. "But I don't need you to do anything just yet. Wait until a little later and I'll have what I need you to do."

There was an awkward silence for a while – well, awkward on my side. He just sat there, staring at me, sizing me up like I was some sort of impressive tool, ready to be used in a great plan that couldn't fail, which I was sure that he was thinking. I had been stupid to get caught up with them. I needed to figure a way out, and quickly.

"Now," he whispered, leaning forwards so that his face was only a little away from me. "Want me to tell you something? While you're here, I can destroy your beliefs with the truth."

I gulped as I realised that there was no more space behind for me to retreat.

"Have you realised anything about that precious leader of yours yet?"

I narrowed my eyes, suddenly feeling incredibly defensive. Back onto DiZ? I had to admit, I was curious and wondered what it was that they knew about DiZ, what he had hidden from us, but he had also cared for me since my parents left me and I found out what I was. If he had things hidden, it wasn't my place to find out what it was, just like I didn't try to find out what was between Axel and Riku.

"I don't want to know," I hissed. I stood up, pushing the chair onto the floor behind me. He just gave an amused chuckle. "Just leave me alone. DiZ is a great leader, who isn't someone like you."

"At least I don't keep secrets from those who trust me."

"Why are you doing this?" I bellowed, clenching my hands into fists. Glancing around, I looked for something to hit to relieve my frustration. Among all of that, it was him that I wanted to hit the most, but I knew I couldn't. "Because your father was one of us?"

He didn't even seem surprised that I knew. He simple shook his head. "No, I couldn't care less about my father. I didn't know him much anyway – all of his time was spent on studies. He didn't even know I was there half the time. I was kind of glad in the end that he died. It meant I could take over and do what I wanted with his studies."

"And what's that?"

He tilted his head and slipped his hands into his hands. "That's for me to know and you to find out." He jumped off of the table and slowly walked towards me.

I backed away until I felt the cold white wall on the back of me. "Why can't you just tell me? It's not like I can get out and tell anyone."

"Because it would be _far _more enjoyable to see your expression once you figure it out," he replied. He held out his hand, palm facing me, and spoke silent words that never reached my ears. Darkness began to grow from the tiny cracks of the wall, engulfing the room. Before I knew it, we both stood back in the darkness that I had become trapped in twice now. From the depths of the shadows, though, were the blinding yellow eyes that watched us intently. "Figured anything out yet?"

I shrunk away from the eyes, feeling their stares boring into me mockingly. As if I didn't feel trapped before! But now the cold air slithered its way into my clothes, biting at my flesh and taking away the little warmth I had to begin with.

"Y-You keep bringing me here," I stuttered as I realised that the danger I felt from him was always the danger I felt in this place too.

He slapped his palm against his hidden forehead and sniggered. "Finally! You've realised! It's always been me."

"If you could do that then why didn't you capture me sooner?" He was this powerful? He always had the chance to capture us, even when we felt most safe? Why had he sent his men to try, then? Why didn't he just do it himself?

"Because it's so fun to watch while you try your best to hide. That false security you feel – it's just hilarious to watch!"

I needed to tread carefully. If I said or did anything wrong against him, Sora would have no chance. I felt my knees buckle and my skin tremble. We should have realised that there was a danger, way before they reached this power.

"I'd like to see you fight."

"What?"

"I'd like to see you fight," he repeated. He raised a hand and the Heartless crawled out from the darkness. "What weapon do you have?"

I took the knife out from my pocket. "Only this."

He nodded and bit his bottom lip. "It'll work."

Without any other warning, he set those monsters on me. I lunged forwards and stabbed the one closest to me, which also happened to be the smallest. It blew up into mist and was gone. I spun and did the same to the next closest one, and then one after that. But as each wave came closer, the more it took to take one down. They grew, moulded together and created a Heartless almost twice its size, and it took more than just the one stab to kill it.

I felt a clawed hand grab at my ankle. I tried to kick it away, but the moment of hesitation brought three of the massive Heartless onto me. They pushed me over onto my back and began to claw at me. I felt the knife leave my hand and clatter further away.

"For someone who's taught to fight since they were young, you're pretty crap."

I glanced over the shoulder of the Heartless that held me down and saw the leader looking down at me, my knife in his hand as he examined it.

"I expected a better weapon too. I don't know, something like a proper blade maybe?" He threw my knife away and stomped on one of the Heartless, killing one of his own creations. "Maybe it would take for Sora to be here for you to show what you're really like."

Something snapped inside of me. I yelled at the top of my lungs and threw the Heartless off of me. They squealed as they flew through the air and slammed against the floor. I pulled myself up and breathed deeply, staring the leader in the face and giving a silent dare.

"That's more like it."

I took my knife from the floor and set it upon myself to charge at the Heartless, feeling my body become light and my moves become silent. My training finally kicked in and my mind was set on killing every one of these bastards before they had the chance to drag Sora here. They welcomed my initiative and met me halfway; only to find themselves exploding once my powerful slashes met with their bodies.

I heard their leader chuckling in the background. I glance back over my shoulder and saw him clutching at his ribs and he bent double in his laughter. He was mocking me, laughing at my determination. I had never met someone like him before, and I was sure I would never want to meet anyone like him ever again. I turned back, my core burning with anger and rage, my hand holding tightly onto the hilt of the knife. More Heartless walked out from the edges of the void, this time hesitant before me. I swiftly dove of them and killed three with one swipe.

They started to sneak away once they saw my bursts of attacks. They circled me, but stayed far away and watched me carefully. Had I finally made them fear me? They chirped and hissed to each other while I wondered what to do next. There didn't seem to be an end to them, but they gave me the release that I needed. I felt my frustration beginning to be control itself and I breathed deeply to take in the breath I had been holding in while fighting.

One slowly stepped towards me, tilting its little shadowy head. None followed as it came closer and closer to me. I knelt down, curious as to what it wanted to do. The laughter still rang out behind me, but I could feel his eyes on me as his creation stepped warily into the circle.

It held out its paw (or whatever it was) shakily and froze as I sighed. I held out my own hand, palm up and under its own. It growled then and scratched the skin of my hand. I gasped and watched as the cuts began to bleed. It retreated back to its circle of family and the leader laughed harder.

That made me even angrier. I felt my teeth clench together as my heart raced. I leaped for the one that scratched me and I plunged my knife into its body. I hissed and was then gone. I made my way through the circle in a matter of only minutes, and no more came to take their place. I guessed that the leader became bored of seeing the same thing, despite still laughing his head off, because he wiped away the tears that fell, took a deep breath and calmly walked towards me.

"I see," he said, still with a lingering laugh in between the words. "You just need an incentive and then you're a machine." He rubbed his ribs and took a deep breath. "Man, that made my sides hurt."

"What was so funny?" I snapped.

He walked passed me, patting my shoulder as he went. "Inside joke," he waved away. He placed his hands on his hips and watched the darkness that surrounded us. "There was quite a few and you managed to get rid of them all. Even without it, you're still pretty powerful."

I narrowed my eyes and turned sharply towards him. "Without what?"

I saw him glance at my knife and he gave a crooked grin. "Of course you wouldn't know."

"Wouldn't know what?" I insisted.

He reached his hand into the hoodie he wore and brought out a chain that hung from his neck. He spun it a little, searching for something that was attached to the chain. Once he found it, he held it up for me to see.

I walked towards him curiously. All I saw was a small golden key, the end cut to outline a crown. I shrugged. "What is that?"

"It was my father's," he gave as an answer.

I waited, expecting more of him, but when he said nothing more, I asked, "And how is that supposed to be mean anything to me?"

He sighed. "What _was_ my father?"

"A Nobody." Really, was there anything he didn't know I knew? Had he set Saix up to tell me these things so that he didn't have to?

He clicked his fingers. "Exactly. Now work it out for yourself."

"How am I supposed to do that when I've never seen something like that?" I growled through clenched teeth. It was a key! Big deal! As if it had any importance.

"That's the problem. Well, problem for _you_ anyway."

I rolled my eyes, but stopped as I grasped something. Was I _meant_ to have a key like that? I turned to look at it, but to me it was still such a simple key. I had to admit, it was a little big for any of the doors I had ever seen, and it would definitely not fit into the lock of our base.

"You still don't get it? This is a Nobodies' Key. Every Nobody has one, or is meant to anyway. But they were far too powerful with them, so a group called the Organisation a few hundred years ago took all of the Nobodies' Keys that they could find and stowed them away somewhere secret. That cut their power by half. The Organisation tried to separate the Originals and the Nobodies too, but they were too weak and they were defeated, so the connection you have still continues. Each Nobody had their own Key, one that was just as important to them as their Originals. Once one Nobody died, the Key was passed on to another Nobody. I don't know who this one belongs to now, though, after my father died."

Something that could make us twice as powerful? This could help us! This could be our chance to defeat them! What were the chances that the one he held now could be mine?

He saw the hope in my face and shook his head. "No, this isn't yours, I know that. If it was, you'd feel a connection to it. But you don't."

"But if the keys were hidden away, how did your father get his?"

"Because I said they took all the ones they could _find_. They never found this one. It was the only one that they didn't take. My father found it in the middle of some woods to the east on one of his walks one day, and so he found his Key."

"Why are you telling me this? Aren't you worried I might find mine and defeat you?"

He began his fit of laughter again. "No., of course not. Honestly, if all the Nobodies had their Keys, I know that we could be defeated. But they won't ever have them back. You won't ever find yours, so there is no threat." He pushed the Key back into the folds of his hoodie and crossed his arms before him. "I love giving you false hope and then watch it crumble only a second later. The Keys have been missing since three hundred years ago. No one has ever come close to finding them. You definitely won't."

I could feel my rage disappear, along with the little hope I had felt growing, just like he said. I still had the determination to never fall, but I had to admit that it broke me just a little.

"This time, you'll never take us down."

I froze and felt a cold wave wash over me. "Oh god…"

He grinned, a bigger grin than I had seen him with before, and whispered, "That's an even better reaction than I thought you'd have!"

"You're… the Organisation?"

He held up his arms in the air and shouted, "Victory! But correction: The _new _and _improved _Organisation. We're not as weak as they were before. I've made sure of that." He pursed his lips in thought, before he decided on something that he thought would be fun.

I stepped back, my head filled with the new information. So, this had happened before. Not like this, but this wasn't new. I was so confused. I didn't know what to do. So these people wanted to break the connection between us and our Originals? No, they hadn't made any move towards that. All they had done was attack the Nobodies and left our Originals alone. So they didn't have the same intention as the ones before? What did they want?

He gripped the edges of his hood in his hand and paused before pulling it down. "You want to know why we're doing what we're doing?"

I gasped. Had I said what I thought out loud, or was I really just predictable?

"Figure that out on your own. I've given you too many clues and I've told you about the Keys. It'll be more fun that way," he posed. Then he threw down his hood and flashed a smirk.

My knees gave way and I collapsed onto the floor, my eyes unable to stray from his face. The confusion in my head suddenly increased twice the times and I felt my breathing falter a little as my heart threatened to break free from my chest.

He looked down at me with his sharp eyes, his spikes bobbing as he took a step closed. Amusement lined those pupils and his eyebrows knotted together in a glare. He held out one of his hands and greeted, "A little late for introductions, but this just seemed to be the right time. Hello, I'm Vanitas, leader of the Organisation that will bring you down. Nice to meet you, Roxas."

**A/N: **_Yes, the Organisation in this is completely different from the game and made up of different people, but I thought it was a good way to make them. I like to totally switch up characters and their roles, it just makes it more interesting to write! And more surprising. Just like the Keyblade has a totally different role in this, and there isn't just one great one. Its purpose will be the same-ish, but I may add some different power to it and such. You'll just have to see! It's also the longest chapter I've done, haha, but I just couldn't make it shorter or cut it off anywhere! Tell me what you think and if you have any questions, PM me if you want to :) Thank you all! _


	27. Threats And Solutions

"W-Why…?" I stammered, my voice choking at the back of my throat. My surroundings were suddenly gone from my mind (not that they were important anyway; they were just walls of shadows after all) and my eyes could not stray from the face before me.

The name was different. His hair and eye colour were different. His attitude couldn't be more different. But I couldn't help noticing how alike he and Sora looked. With the same spiky hair, the same small face, the same big bright eyes, the same build - I just didn't know what was going on. What was this?

He leant back, retracting his raised hand and crossed his arms before his chest as he gave me a frown. Amusement still lingered in those familiar eyes, but it seemed he had decided to take things seriously for now.

"Now do you understand the situation you're in?"

I exhaled heavily, wondering if he knew what Sora looked like. Had that been the reason he had waited to show me what he looked like? Did he know what reaction his appearance would have on me? I shook my head and finally broke eye contact. Too many questions lined my head. My body sagged as all energy to fight was just suddenly taken away. In such a short time, my emotions had been taken on a dangerous ride.

"No," I snapped, more frustrated than ever. I shut away all of the questions I had, knowing that I'd never have the answers I needed. "No I don't. I don't know what's going on. Not at all!"

With a click of his fingers, we were back in the blinding white office. I leant against one of the walls while he sat back in his chair, watching me carefully. He still had the same frown, but his right eyebrow was raised in enjoyment.

"What do you want from me?" I sighed. Silently, I asked, why not any other Nobody? Why me? I didn't want any of my friends getting hurt, but I still wondered why it happened to be me. Was it coincidence or not?

He glanced down at his nails as we lifted his legs to rest on the desk before him. For a few minutes, he said nothing and continued to do nothing, but there seemed to be a strange aura in the air, like he was just waiting for the perfect time to drop another bomb of information onto me. Luckily for me and my already-crammed mind, he decided now was not the time as he shook his head.

"It's not ready yet. I'll tell you another time." With another click of his fingers, Seifer came into the room to answer his call. I did wonder how the sound carried outside the door for him to hear at all.

Seifer's eyes glanced at me with what seemed like pity before he gave his leader – Vanitas or whatever he called himself – a bow.

"Get me one of the Nobodies from the cell. I don't care which one, just bring them here," he ordered.

Seifer nodded, muttered a 'Yes, Sir' and left with a quick pace. He returned just as quickly. I had a small hope that it would be Naminé, so that I had a familiar face, but if he was going to hurt her, I hoped against it being here as well. But it wasn't her. It was a small guy, one that I didn't recognise, with short plain black hair and sparkling eyes. He trembled once he came to a stop before the leader. His eyes glanced to me, confusion and a silent plea resting in those depths.

Vanitas regarded him before he clicked his tongue. "He'll do." Shoving his hands into his pockets, he stood up from the chair and slowly paced towards the Nobody. It was clear in the way he looked at the small quivering wreck that he thought nothing of him but something to be of use, just something there, like an object to be hated; a tool, something to throw away once it was done. He turned to look at me before he gave me a sly smirk.

A chill was sent up my spine. A horrible thought suddenly struck me. What if he was going to kill this little Nobody before me? What if he asked _me_ to kill him? I readied myself, knowing exactly what I was going to do and how to do it. I would save him if they were going to kill him, and refuse to do anything if they asked. We Nobodies had to look after the other, after all- who else was going to do it?

"Seifer-"

Here it came…

"-take this Nobody to the town we have occupied. Find Roxas' Original and tell him where Roxas is. Wait for his response. If he wants to be brought here, bring him as he wishes. If he's anything like little Roxas, he'll do anything to get him back out of harm's way."

I snapped. There had always been a possibility that he'd try to bring Sora here, but I had the hope that he might have decided against it. And he was right; Sora would come to save me, along with Hayner and Riku would follow Sora. They'd all be here. They'd all be in the hands of danger.

Without a second's worth of hesitation, I lunged at him. He expected it, however, and side-stepped my attack. He gave a small shake of his head when Seifer came to try and stop me. I swirled around, this time catching his shirt in my fist. Even he looked a little shocked, so I took this time to grip quickly and throw him onto the floor with a hard and sickening thud as his head slammed against the white.

"Don't you dare!" I screamed at him, my lungs aching from the ferocity of my shout. "If you so much as even think about it, I'll rip you in half!"

He chuckled, "This connection thing is a little scary, even I have to say." He relaxed on the floor, resting an arm behind his head as he turned to Seifer. "Take the Nobody to his base then and let him free to tell DiZ and the rest of his kind what's going on. It'll be hilarious to see what he does." He glanced back at me with a knowing smile. "Let's see what your precious leader does, shall we, Roxas? Will he come save you and the other Nobodies in this place? Or will he think it to be a burden and just leave you to us?"

I knelt down, grabbing his collar in both my hands and pulled him up to me. Once our faces were only inches from each other, I spat, "You bastard_._ You complete and utter _BASTARD_!" He gave a snigger as a response, his eyes boring into mine with such intensity that I had to turn away.

Seifer grabbed a hold of the Nobody, created a portal and disappeared through it without another word. I was left with this nutter, completely at my mercy. I decided to act. I decided to do what I had so often wanted to do since the minute I met him.

I punched him. Right in the face.

I thought I had done it with quite a bit of strength, but as I drew my fist away, I still saw him smirking lips and the rage grew inside of me. There was a mark on his cheek, the base of what would be a beautifully horrid bruise, but he didn't even act like it hurt. I dropped him and paced to the other side of the room, suddenly realising that once Sora was here, Vanitas could take his revenge out on him for that punch.

I leant my forehead against the wall, trying to calm my breathing. Behind me, I heard him pull himself up and wipe down the dirt on his clothes.

"Well, now, that's the fighting spirit I needed to see," he commented with cheeriness. "Not afraid of anything when it comes to Sora, are you?"

I turned to glare over my shoulder. A palm rested on his bruised cheek. But he didn't seem to be holding it for the pain, it was more like he was holding it as if it was some sort of trophy – a trophy he knew he was going to get. He purposely let his guard down so that I could get at him? I just gritted my teeth, not really caring anymore. I didn't want to know how far he had this planned.

"How do you know his name?" I grumbled.

He tutted at me. "Of course I know. I wouldn't have gotten far had I not known every name of the Nobodies and who their Originals were, would I?"

"Right."

He took small and slow steps towards me. "Sora is your weak point, just like every Original to their Nobody. Now, I wonder what would happen if we told them what their role is."

I spun around, cold fear bubbling up inside of me. "Don't do that… No."

He grinned, flashing his white teeth at me. "I won't have to if you do what I say."

"I've already told you I'll do what you want!"

"Just making sure you're dedicated."

I sat down against the wall. Now all I could do was wait for Seifer to return, with or without Sora and the rest. With, that would be the most likely, I was sure. And then I would have no ability to protect him. We'd both be at Vanitas' mercy and we had no idea where that would go. He could end up telling him everything.

He walked to his chair and started to leaf through a file he brought out from the drawer. We stayed silent for a long time, letting the time slip by with not a word. I was lost in my thought, confused and not sure on what to do. Every fibre in my body was hoping against Sora returning. Once the portal opened up again, Seifer coming through it, my heart thumped violently against my chest. My eyes flickered behind him. But no Sora.

Vanitas looked up with a frown. "Where is the Original?"

Seifer huffed in annoyance. "He was full set on coming. I didn't even need to ask him, he practically begged. But one of his friends, a silver-haired one, grabbed him and escaped before I could grab a hold of him. They've hidden away somewhere in the town now and I can't find them. Leaving the Nobody at the base though went off without a hitch."

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as a smile crept up. I found myself giving a low chuckle, barely audible. Riku had saved not only Sora, but me as well, and maybe even the whole Nobody kind for the time being. He had done as I had asked and did anything he could to protect Sora. It was probably more out of love for his friend than the promise I had asked of him, but it still meant a hell of a lot to me. I owed a whole lot to him now.

"Find them," Vanitas commanded, slamming the file on the desk. "Drag his friend here too if you have to. Just get him here. Get others if you need them too."

Seifer nodded and left quickly. I glanced up at Vanitas who, for once, seemed to be spilling with rage. His eyes were even narrower than they had been before, and his breathing came out in short and sharp whisps. But as soon as his eyes met mine, he gave that smirk as always.

"It seems that you didn't leave your Original on his own," he whispered into the cold room air. "You're a good protector, aren't you? Doing everything for someone who's only going to kill you and forget you in the end. Now, wouldn't it be _very_ entertaining if the end of your connection happened in here?"

I shivered at that. I still liked to think that we had a way off before it had to come to the end, but the way he said that made it seem like he would keep us here until that happened. He wanted to see Sora kill me? No. I couldn't let that happen. If that did happen, Sora would be alone here, and no doubt they'd make it so that he'd remember everything. I couldn't let him turn into DiZ.

A Heartless formed in the corner of the room beside me.

"Take him back to the prison cells."

It grabbed a hold of my trouser leg and began to pull me along with surprisingly a lot of force. I had no choice but to go along with him, and was grateful that I didn't have to spend another minute with that Vanitas. In truth, he scared me a little, but I'd get rid of him if it meant that Sora would be safe.

As soon as I was back in the cell, the other Nobodies rushed to me, asking questions about why I had been called and what the other guy had been taken away for.

"Don't worry, they sent him back to the others," I assured. "They didn't hurt him."

Before they could launch into another series of questions, I held up my hand to silence them. They hushed and waited eagerly for what I was going to say, hoping for the best as I gave them a grin.

"I think I've figured out a way to escape," I replied after I checked to make sure one of those monsters weren't lurking around.

Their eyes widened.

"They're trying to get my Original," I informed. "He managed to get away, but no doubt they'll try to get yours too. Even if you don't have one, they'll do something to try and get your weaknesses."

"We need to get out before that happens," Naminé gasped.

"Exactly." I had made sure that my face hadn't given away my hope to Vanitas as I saw the way out. It seemed to work as he didn't do anything to try and stop him, and punching him in the face had been the perfect distraction so that he didn't figure it out either. Even once Seifer had returned, I had pretended to pay as little attention as I could.

So I told them, "When one of them was going to try and get my Original, he left through this portal thing that he made. He took someone with him, so it doesn't have to be just them that can go through-"

"But we can't make something like a portal," one interrupted.

I rolled my eyes. "No, that's not what I meant. We don't have to make one; we can just go through one that they have already made. See?"

"But we'd need to wait until we were all together and one was made, like, here or something."

"Have you got a better idea?" I snapped at the questioner. Silence met my answer, to I continued. "I know it's pretty far-fetched, but it's out best chance. There _is_ a chance that we will be together when a portal is opened, and then we can all get out. It's the way they get in and out, so that must mean there are no doors or other exits. It's the only way."

"Maybe there is a chance we'll all be in the same room when it happens," Naminé said encouragingly. Though she sounded doubtful, I could see the hope grow in her eyes, as well as the eyes of the other Nobodies. "Maybe we can get one of them to open it here."

"How?"

She shrugged. "We'll figure it out. We have plenty of time and nothing to distract us."

"And if it doesn't work?"

I turned on the same annoying Nobody, glaring at her and my fists clenched at my sides. "Do you _want_ them to drag your Original here? If so, then by all means, stay over there and don't listen in. When we get out, you can stay here and do whatever they want you to do. But we're sure not going to follow your path choice." Of course, no one was going to leave her, but the tone in my voice was enough to shut her up and nod with a squeak.

"We'll make it work," someone finished.

I nodded. Immediately, we set to work, planning and giving our own suggestions. Most didn't seem too hopeful, and some were just plain ridiculous, but it was some hours before we came up with one that we all agreed upon. As we lay to fall asleep, we all had the same thought on our mind; we hoped that it wasn't too late. By now, the other Nobodies would be planning too. We needed to get out before they got in.

**A/N: **_Here is another longer chapter! I'd love to know what you think of it or where it's going. Not a lot has happened, action wise, compared to the last one, I know. But hey! They may have found a way out. I have a lot planned left, and with it being over half way now until the end, I'm at a mess to think of where to put them, haha. Thank you all again!_


	28. Set Up

We woke suddenly to loud shouting and banging on bars. Immediately, we all rose to our feet, our hearts racing and our eyes scanning desperately for the source of the noise. On the other side of the bars, a small Heartless watched us with a tilted hair, its clawed hand lazily scraping along the bars. I glared at it, sure that if it had had a mouth, it would be grinning at us right now.

"What _are_ those things?" Naminé queried as she stepped to my side, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"They're Heartless," I replied. "They were made by the leader here and his late father." I stepped forwards and kneeled by the bars, gazing at the little creature with hatred and anger. To think that another Nobody made these little things, purposely to be rid of us all. To now know that it's meaning was to kill us, my curiosity grew. The two that had let us go back in that town…why had they done that? Why had they gone against their reason?

It chirped at me, blinking its bright eyes at me. As it titled its head further, its antennae bounced happily. It reached out its paw through the bars, but this time I was wary. I didn't reach out as I had done before, and just stared at it.

"It's creepy," someone said behind me.

Of course it is if it has to aim for us, I thought as I rolled my eyes. Weirdly, though, without it attacking me, it looked a little… cute? I shivered. Maybe not the best choice of words there.

There came a sound further along the hall. The Heartless squeaked and disappeared into the floor. I stayed as I was. Even as I heard boots walk along the floor, coming closer and closer, I still knelt beside the bars, trying to get a better look of who it might have been.

The first thing I noticed was that this one was a girl. She was smaller than the other members I had seen, I realised as she came to a halt where the Heartless had been only seconds before. She had her hood up, obscuring her face. She stood with tense shoulders, her hands clenching at her sides as she strained herself not to bite her lip.

I stood up on the other side of the bars, only a foot or two away from her. I could feel her breath on my face, and I was sure she could feel mine too. She seemed to be battling with something inside herself, I saw, as she gulped and shook. It seemed like she was confused on whether to punch me or not, a strange reaction coming from someone who was supposed to hate us right to the core. I felt a little pity for her, so I tilted my head and gave a small, very, very small, smile, just a pull of the lips.

It didn't seem to help. If anything, it seemed to make her understand less, and the war in her seemed to rage on.

"When are you going to let us go?" demanded a Nobody as they hurled themselves at the bars.

She ripped her gaze from me onto the Nobody. The gloves on her hands cracked as she clenched her fists tighter.

Naminé reached out and pulled the Nobody from the bars gently, sensing the dangerous aura that surrounded this new-comer.

Another set of footsteps sounded down the hall, attached to someone else that hid behind a hood and coat. He gave us a sly smirk and pushed the girl behind him. His bigger frame hid her perfectly from out prying eyes as we tried to get some answers.

"Causing a little bit of trouble here?" he chuckled.

We Nobodies remained silent, afraid of what that smirk he had given us would bring.

He turned to the girl behind him and asked, "They causing you grief?"

I turned to Naminé, waiting for a signal. She gave a small nod, one that quickly attracted the attention of all the Nobodies around us. With a simultaneous intake of breath, our plans entered our minds.

He turned back to us, understanding nothing of what was to come. He spat, "Sick filth." He kicked up the dirt from the hall, spraying it on me and the others in the cell.

Now was my time to shine. I gave a dry chuckle and mumbled, "Egotistical moron." I gasped as I felt hands grab at my shirt and slam me up against the bars. I grunted and flinched as he inched closer towards me so that his nose was almost touching mine. "Touchy, are we?" I continued. He slammed me against the cold metal again.

He growled, "Don't you dare judge me by your low standards."

"Then don't judge us at all." I gripped my knife tightly in my hand, hoping that this would go to plan. He threw me onto the floor and I hastily placed my knife in the corner of the opening of the hall and the cell, as quietly as I possibly could to avoid detection. "Why'd you even come here? To gloat?" I gave him a cheeky grin, one that he understood completely. "Don't think I didn't notice. I knew as soon as I saw Saix."

Xigbar took down his hood and gave an unsatisfied frown. "That guy was always ruining the fun."

I could sense the eyes of the others watching me, confused. It was obvious to me, really, that he would be one of them. Vanitas seemed to know a lot about DiZ, so of course I'd make the connection of that with Saix at the town and Xigbar questioning me about DiZ what seemed so long ago now. It was just a matter of waiting to find out which one he was. His voice was just as annoying as I remembered it.

"He's dead now," I informed, watching as the frown slipped down further. "I killed him."

"Thought as much when he didn't return."

"So, what, are you both part of this group thing?" I didn't really expect an answer, but anything to stall for the precious few seconds we needed so that they didn't think anything was suspicious.

He gave me a disgusted look, glancing down at the knife. I held my breath suddenly, wondering if he had figured it out, but he looked away, oblivious as to what we had intended. I sighed, thankful that he was a complete idiot.

"I am. Saix was just a wannabe," he replied. He leaned down as the girl whispered something in his ear. Without another word, they began to slowly make their way out.

"That's right, you wimp," I called after him, careful as the wall began to shrink and cover the bars once again. I glanced down at the knife and sighed in relief that it was still in place. "You just run away!" I gripped the hilt tightly to avoid it slipping. I guided it until it was wrapped by the engulfing wall, stopping it from closing completely. We watched as it groaned and froze. I dreaded to think what would happen if this didn't work.

"What are you waiting for? Try and open it!" someone snapped behind me.

I turned my head to glare at him over my shoulder. My hand trembled a little as I placed me other hand on the hilt, gripping it just as tightly as the other until my knuckles began to change to a deadly white. I pulled hard on it, as if to cut my way through the wall. For a few seconds, it didn't budge, and I could hear my hope plummet to the ground as well as the sad sighs of the Nobodies. But, just as I was about to give up, I felt the wall give way and open up once again to show the bars.

"Now," Naminé ordered. They all ran to the edges of the wall, pushing to keep it open. "Quickly, Roxas."

So far, so good, though I knew it would get harder. I set to work on cutting through the bars. It was only going to take one for someone like Naminé to squeeze through. It was a lot harder to cut through the bar than I had originally thought though, even with my knife. It took quite a few hours, setting us on edge, worrying that one of the enemies would come in at any point. Once or twice, a Heartless popped in to see what we were doing. The first time it happened, we had worried that it would go back and tell Vanitas of what we were doing, but no one had come yet, so we continued even as more came to visit.

Nearing the end, I had a sheet of sweat lining my body, dripping from my skin in beads. I'd pulled up the sleeves of my shirt and my breaths came out in deep and husky intakes. But I have a huge beaming smile as I felt the knife cut through the last little bit of the bar that it had left. The bar fell with a clang to the floor, leaving a gap open for us to escape through.

And just in time too. We heard footsteps begin to walk down the hall. With careful hands, I grabbed the bar and placed it back where I had cut it from. The wall was released and closed in on itself again. Naminé pushed me to sit down and knelt beside me as everyone else took their places.

The wall opened. Seifer was the one behind it this time, and I grinned to myself. We couldn't have gotten anyone better than him.

One of the Nobodies ran to the bars, her eyes wide and tearing up. "Please, please get someone! Roxas is really sick."

With one glance at my sweaty, pale and exhausted figure, Seifer was completely taken in. But he was wary of what to do, of what he _could_ do. I could see that he was torn between doing something, or get someone else to do it.

"Do something!" Naminé hissed at him.

He glanced desperately at me. "What do I do?"

"Go get him some medicine or something." She glanced at me, and I began to fake a coughing fit as I curled into myself. "He has these attacks, and he has medication for it, but he hasn't taken it in the time he's been here."

"What medication?"

Naminé stood up and pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket, along with a tiny pencil that she always kept with her. She quickly scribbled it down, probably making something up or putting the most complicated medication she knew. She pushed it through the bars to him. "It's in most pharmacies and shops like that. Just get it quickly."

Where would he open the portal to? Well, of course the place that he could get to quicker and where he could get the medication without any trouble. So, where else could that be than the town his kind had taken over?

He nodded, glancing quickly at the end of the hall before he raised his palm and opened a portal. Before he had a chance to react, Naminé grabbed hold of the loose bar, clinging to it as she stepped through the gap and swung at Seifer. He gasped and stepped back, but the end caught his chest and he fell to the ground.

I sprung up, pushing myself through the gap and shouting, "Go, go, go!" None stayed to ask. They came flooding through the gap and, without any reluctance, ran through the portal, trusting that this would work and desperate as this would be the only chance we got.

"What do we do with him?"

I stared down at Seifer and he stared back, knowing that his life now rested in my hands. "Bring him with us."

He growled, catching me completely off guard. He narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth together. "Not again!" he exclaimed, jumping at me and throwing me against the hall floor.

"Go, Naminé!" I ordered her. She looked about ready to argue, but I interrupted. "Just go!" She didn't stay for long, knowing that the portal could close at any second.

I pushed Seifer off of me. "Get off me!" His hands were still wrapped around my throat and I frantically tried to rip them off, but he had a very stubborn grip. I kicked at him and he finally let go, trying to shield himself before my foot made the connection.

"Not again," he whispered again, so quietly that I barely heard.

I took this opportunity and pushed myself up towards the portal.

"Hold it right there, Roxas."

I stopped suddenly, a chill shuddering through me as the voice hit my ears. I turned and saw Vanitas, casually leaning against the wall, a smirk filled with knowledge just beaming at me.

"Just before you go, I'd like you to realise that if you step into that, you'd be destroying any security Sora has," he quickly cut to the chase. He knew he had my attention, fully and completely, on his words. "We may not know where he is right now, but we'll find out."

"There's no security for him if I stay here anyway," I answered.

He let out a deep breath and pushed himself off of the wall. He took a few steps closer until he was standing besides Seifer, who still sat on the floor. "True, but you know this is not the end right? This was simply a tester. I know who you are, your Original, your strengths, weaknesses, what you know, what you don't, what you're likely to do, what you won't do… and so on. I know everything I needed to know, about you and your friends. I even know what I need to know about your Original." He bent down in a mock bow and gazed at me up through his eyelashes. "So, go and enjoy your freedom while it lasts, because next time, I'm aiming for you, your Original, and maybe some more if I feel like it."

I gave him the best glare that I could achieve before I sprinted my way out of that place, as fast as I could, allowing the darkness to eat me up and take me somewhere else. With all of my heart, I hoped that Sora would be on the other side, waiting for me and I could run to him and do everything I could to protect him. But no one was there when the portal shrank back. Not even Naminé or the others. It was a dark alley, filled with a decaying stench and damp air that made my skin shiver.

As the portal began to disappear behind me, a voice rang through. "Now it's a race to find who can get to your Original first, right?"

It left with a chuckle that shook my inner core. I had no time to lose. That had been the last trick he played before we left. He separated me from anyone familiar I had and left me to fend for myself, in the hope I wouldn't find Sora before he did. I saw his intention now – to play with us before he trapped us completely. It was now that I realised the extent of his power. I needed to step up if I had a chance to be any danger to him as well.

Without a thought of rest, even as the sweat dripped from my forehead and fell into my eyes, I ran forwards, my entire being anxious to find my purpose – to find Sora – before anyone else had the chance to lay a hand on him.

**A/N: **_Not sure what to think about this chapter, to be honest, but hey, I had planned for it to get to this at some point! So I guess it isn't all bad. Hope you like it anyway, and where it's going. I know I thank you a lot, but thank you again for all of the positive feedback! It really means a lot to me :)_


	29. Creating Depths In The Shallow

I don't know how long I searched. It must have been hours, judging from the immense pain in my feet and legs. But the darkness was still, showing no signs of the penetrating morning light. I didn't know the time, though even I was sure there should have at least been a little bit of light by now.

My heart raced, almost as fast as the thoughts inside my head were spinning. The stars pierced the sky, as well as the eyes of the heartless that watched me from the depths of their homes of darkness. I'd given up on trying to act like the others. There was no point in hiding from those who knew who you were anyway, not here. So I pushed my way through the small crowd of the locals, those who never seemed to leave the streets, even at night, and ran through this labyrinth of mysteries. But I came across no clues. I was just as lost as most of the people who lived here.

I could hear little cackles as I took deep breaths. I glanced at the prying yellow eyes that glared at me, and felt my rage growing inside me. I understood that I must have looked so stupid to them; searching for someone that not even they could find. But I had faith in this connection of ours, and I hoped that maybe that would give me some sort of indication.

To my right, I saw something shimmer. There, my hope lay. One of those ghosts, whatever they were, was standing there with a gentle but reassuring smile, and waved his hand at me. I saw the Heartless watch it with curiosity. It vaguely ran through my mind, the question of how they could see it too, but my priority was set on something else. I ran to it, a small linger of a small beginning to grow on my own face. He crept into the darkness, and without hesitation I followed.

"Can you help me? Do you know where Sora is?" My voice came out in little drabbles, sounding more like a pitiful beg than a proper question. But I had no shame in admitting that that was the state I was in.

He gave me a small shake as he glanced over his shoulder at me with shining eyes. When he tried to speak, no voice came out. But I still seemed to understand what it was that he tried to say. They'd help me try, at least.

He led me to a small shelter, where it people around my age stood outside, either just chatting or standing oddly still. It must have been for the homeless, I thought. I knew that he was trying to encourage me to rest as he saw my drooping eyelids. But I wasn't in the mood to sleep; I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, no matter how comfortable the bed.

The shelter was a small thing, with badly painted black wall so that it almost blended in with the night. Cracks sneaked their ways up the walls, and the roof had visible holes that let the light from inside seep out. The door itself, an old varnished wooden door, hung on its hinges after years of being used and not fixed. It certainly didn't look welcoming to those who didn't have a home and who wanted to get in from the streets. But if it offered food and a bed, it was probably heaven to them.

I pushed through the door and was greeted by the stares of the young people there. All conversations halted and an air of suspicion filled the tension. I held my head down, used to the same looks given by those who had been in school with me. I made my way to an empty seat and sat down with a sigh of relief, closing my eyes to the world and the stares that I was too exhausted to fully notice. After a while, the stares turned away and single voices rose again. I opened my eyes, suddenly remembering the ghost, only to find that it had vanished while I had been drifting off. Even though I knew it wouldn't be that easy, I still searched for the familiar mop of spikey brown hair, or even the shining silver hair, or someone that sat with pain after breaking their ribs. But no such people turned up in my silent search. I didn't know whether I was happy at that, or scared wondering where they could have been. For only a second, I wondered if they had gone back to Leon's house. But I doubted that. That wasn't a safe place as it would probably be the first place the Heartless would check.

No one approached me. For the first hour or so, they cast wary glances towards me, getting the feeling that I really didn't belong here. But as time went by, it was as if I didn't exist. Even those who walked by, with only inches of distance between us, didn't give a single look to me. And, to be honest, that was the way I liked it. I had already gained too much unnecessary attention, I didn't need any more.

Though the feelings I got here weren't welcoming ones, I still felt happier here than I had out in the street. Here, these people didn't act dead and lifeless as those in the street. They acted like normal teenagers, those who gave more than just a 'hi' and actually stayed to chat. Laughter and smiles were common and there weren't any feelings of fear. It made me feel at ease, knowing that I could rest here when I had nowhere else to go.

Despite my earlier thoughts of not being able to fall asleep, my eyes began to slowly close once the minutes ticked away. Before long, I was lost to dreams of what could happen if I didn't find Sora.

* * *

I woke up to someone shaking me. I jumped, gripping the hilt of the knife in my hand. But what I opened my eyes to was just a small child smiling toothily up at me.

"Hey, mister," he whispered to me. "There's someone who wants you."

I glanced around, noticing that finally the sun shone from the holes in the ceiling, but the people of this shelter were fast asleep. I guessed that in this town, most slept during the day, scared that something would happen should they sleep at night. I got up, gave my hand to the boy who was desperately trying to grasp at it, and followed as he pulled me towards the back of the shelter.

"He says he's a friend of yours, mister," he informed me. "I asked his name though, and he wouldn't give it to me."

The first person that immediately came to mind was Vanitas and fear flooded through me. What did he want now? How did he find me so easily? Sure, I hadn't exactly been trying to hide, but it still unnerved my greatly. It must really have been something for Sora, Riku and Hayner to get away from him unnoticed. I gave a small smirk, thankful for once that I hadn't been there with them.

But it wasn't Vanitas. When I entered a small room at the back, I noticed that another person was sitting on a chair with their back against the wall. I felt a sense of dread run through me, and a little bit of guilt. The small boy closed the door and I was left to face him.

"DiZ," I whispered as a weak greeting.

He gave me a sad smile. "Roxas."

That was it. There were no questions of where I had been, why I had left, how stupid I could have been to even think of doing it. It was like I had never escaped at all. Truthfully, I felt a little good at that.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well, we _did _get information that you were in trouble. You didn't think we'd just leave you, would you?"

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "Actually, I thought it would be best if you did."

He ignored my answer. "The rest of the Nobodies are waiting in the outskirts of the town-"

"What about Namine and the others? Have you found them?" I gasped.

"No, but I'm sure they're fine, Roxas. They'll find their way out of the town and back to us. Don't worry. But now that you're all out of Vanitas' clutches, we can focus our energy on fighting the Heartless here."

My eyes grew wide. My suspicions of his knowing more than he let on suddenly grew, along with my anxiety. If he was somehow involving us in this… I felt a little betrayed. "How much exactly do you know?" With each word, my voice grew stronger and my rage boiled beneath. "What are you keeping from us? Why won't you tell us? Do you know who Vanitas is? What do they want? What do they want with _you_."

I saw him flinch away from me, surprised at the ferocity in my eyes and the anger that I attacked him with. The air was filled with silence, with no questions answered and no reply given. But I didn't take my eyes away from him. The frustration that had been growing from the minute I had met Sora, it began to get a little too much for me. I just wanted answers. I didn't want to have to wait anymore. And I think he could see that, because he gave a sigh of defeat and leaned back.

"Vanitas is a very cruel man," he whispered the reply. "He takes great pride in being able to rattle the strongest of people." He gave me a calculated and unwavering gaze. "What did he tell you? Did he show you something?"

I nodded, instantly understanding what he was getting at. "Yeah, he showed me his father's Key, and he told me about them."

He gave another reluctant sigh. "It's probably best that I tell someone. And seeing as you know about them already…"

"Yes?"

"For a long time now, since my Nobody died, I've been trying to search for the Keys. I haven't come anywhere near to finding them yet," he admitted. "But Vanitas wanted to know what I knew."

There was more to it, I knew. From the way that Vanitas went on about things that he was keeping from us, this didn't seem secretive at all. So there was more, I knew, but I didn't push it. This was all he was willing to give right now, so I knew that if I pressured him for more, he might stop speaking all together. I'd find out on my own, somehow.

"Why are you searching for them now? Why after your Nobody died?"

He looked away from me and shook his head. "My Nobody hated me, that much was very clear. He tried to do everything he could to get away from me. He even tried to ignore his time when it came. Of course, it was too strong and in the end he came and I killed him. A lot of Nobodies try to get away from their destiny, and it always ends in failure."

Thanks for that, as if I wasn't feeling low enough. I rolled my eyes, but something suddenly hit me. I remembered Saix telling me that Vanitas' father tried to get away from his Original.

"Vanitas' father tried to get away too…" I didn't ask, but I could see in the look that he gave me that he understood what I meant.

He shook his head gently. "Not the same person."

Feeling a little embarrassed, I quickly moved on. "So… the reason you're trying to find out Keys?"

"I hope to one day break the cycle, and the Keys give us the best chance of that." He leaned forwards and stared me right in the eye. "I know it seems like a far stretch, but it's the best bet, and I'll try my best to get them. I just wish I had known about them before I killed my friend."

I could free Sora. I could make sure he didn't have to go through what DiZ had to. It was the perfect solution; if I had had the time, though. I didn't have the time to go searching for something that no one had seen for years. Sora was out there now, and I needed to find him before Vanitas did.

"How far have you gotten with this search then? I know you said you aren't close to finding them, but you must have gotten something, right?"

She shook his head again. "I've found nothing. Quite a few times, I thought I got it, but they were all trails set up by Vanitas to put me off. I haven't given up, but I haven't come close either."

"Oh…" I couldn't help but keep the disappointment out of my voice. If DiZ couldn't find them, how did I have any chance of finding them? And with time scarce on my side, I doubted I'd find them anytime soon, or anytime at all, really.

DiZ got up and stretched his arms. He gave a small side-nod, beckoning for me to follow. "It's time that we go back to the other Nobodies now."

I shook my head. "No, I'm not going there yet. I'm going to look for Sora. I need to stay here."

He looked over his shoulder at me, a dangerous glint in his eye. "Roxas, what do you think you're going to do for him if you stay here? You'd be far better off if you had us to back you up."

I put my food down on this. "No," I repeated. "I'm not going to waste time when I could be here searching for him. He's my Original. I can't leave him on his own when he's in danger!"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration and stress. "I'm not going to argue this with you, Roxas. I understand that you're scared for his wellbeing, but I promise you we'll try everything we can to find him before Vanitas does. That's what you're scared of, aren't you?"

I flinched and he took on a gentler tone.

"He has the Heartless swarming around. You're by yourself. The best way to find Sora if for you to come back with us and let us help you." As he saw the look in my eye, he stepped in front of the door and gave me a stern pat on the shoulder. "If you bolt now, I'll only come after you."

"But Sora-"

"Will be fine until we find him," he assured. "He's a strong kid, and he has Hayner with him."

I nodded, finally giving in. Another fear of mine was that Vanitas would try to trick him into going with him, by telling him he still had me. With all of my heart, I hoped that if that the time ever came that Vanitas was the first to get to him, then Riku would be with him. Riku was a good friend, I never doubted that. But I did doubt if he'd be able to still protect Sora even then.

"Come on. The faster we get to the others, the faster we can plan and find Sora."

With my head bowed, I followed him, aware of the eyes of the Heartless as we went. I knew it wouldn't be long before Vanitas heard of this, and when he did, he would dedicate all his time to try and find what I had lost.

**A/N:**_ Well, I've spent some time yesterday and today counting how long I have left, and from what I've planned, it'll probably finish around chapter 49/50, that's if I don't write too much in one, so it may be shorter. Either way, we're over half way! :D It won't be long now before it's all over, so thank you for all those who've supported this :)_


	30. Resist

A huge weight of stress was lifted from me once we reached the edge of the town. Though we had been let go of easily and I knew that I had left something important to me behind, I couldn't help but smile at the sudden sense of freedom that just seemed to flow through my veins. I hadn't realised how much the suffocating atmosphere there had affected me.

I informed DiZ of Leon, the other Nobody I had met in there, and Yuffie, his Original. For most of my life, I had believed that all Nobodies went to places like I did, where we all gathered and just had a good time. But it seemed that most just grew up alone, without knowing exactly what they were and without the support that I had been brought up with. With this thought, I glanced back at the town and wondered what kind of life Leon must have had.

"Did your Nobody have a place like ours to go to?" I asked reluctantly, knowing the subject wasn't exactly his favourite. More like- it was as if I was walking on broken glass. I always had to be careful, as I had found out the first time it came up. He had walked away, miserable.

"No. I believe this is the only one."

I looked at him in disbelief. "It can't be. There must be another one. There are so many of us – you can't tell me that not one has thought of building a home for us before?"

"You've been brought up with other Nobodies. Those who haven't keep to themselves." He paused for a bit, then took a deep breath and whispered, "I do wonder sometimes that if my Nobody had someone else to turn to, would he have hated me less?"

I gave no answer. I wasn't sure he was looking for one either, like he was asking himself. I realised how lucky I was, to have Sora. He _was_ the person I turned to, the person I was closest to, even if that would hurt me more in the end. But that hatred DiZ must have felt… I hoped I would never get that from Sora.

Silence filled the space between us once we reached the camp. The Nobodies that sat around the fire looked up one by one, straining their eyes to see our descending figures. Once they recognised us, I saw the smiles beam on their faces. Some got up and ran to us and I was locked in their arms' embrace before I could even blink. I was pushed against chests and I gave a small muffled cry as I felt my hair being ruffled.

"You little squirt, well done for getting out."

"Stupid to get caught in the first place."

"You saying you'd be able to hide for as long?"

"I'm saying he shouldn't have done it alone."

"Like you wait for others!"

I rolled my eyes at their petty squabbling and pushed myself out of the hug of the closest person. They made no attempt to recapture me after one look at my red face. But I was smiling too. It was good to be back with my own kind, and not to have to worry about people who couldn't look after themselves.

"Roxas!" someone exclaimed.

I turned at the voice, sure that I had misheard it. She couldn't be here. But before I could get a good look at the on the voice belonged to, a body slammed into me and I was caught once again in a bone-crushing hug- but also one I knew well. I looked down at the brushed black hair. I patted her head, biting my lip.

"Xion, what are you doing here?"

She gazed up at me with sparkling eyes. She gave me the same cute smile she always did and it calmed the confusion inside of me. "I should be asking that," she replied. "You left suddenly. You think we'd leave you alone? Of course we'd come find you."

"Does that mean Axel is here?"

She nodded and let go of me. "We waited for you at school, but you didn't come. Then that guy Sora didn't come, and Riku stopped coming too. Nobody knows where they've gone, or why." Her smile began to falter. "Why did you go?"

"I…" I really didn't know what to tell her. I could see the sadness in her eyes, and my guilt just grew inside me.

"You what?"

"I had to leave," I stupidly came up with.

She sighed. "Another one of these 'don't ask' answers, right?"

"Yeah." I shook my head and asked, "So, where's Axel?"

She gave a small fake grin, understanding that we were going to leave that conversation there and move on. She gripped at my sleeve and began to pull me away from the crowd, towards a small tent. "He's been waiting for you, you know. When we heard these people talking about you, we knew we had to follow them," she told me. "We were coming out of school, and they were in this little alley, talking about you and how they had to get to you. So Axel and I followed them." She looked up sheepishly at me. "Of course, we were caught. But when they tried to get rid of us, we mentioned we were your friends and they let us tag along."

"That was dangerous, you know."

She just gave me a look that said 'And you never do anything dangerous?'

She pushed aside the material door and ushered me in. On the bed rested the same redheaded maniac that I had to admit that I missed a little bit. I stood above him, wondering if I wanted to wake him up the normal way, or add my own little fun to it. Deciding on the latter, I grabbed hold of the blanket that rested beneath him, readied myself and just tugged on it as hard as I could. He slumped to the floor like a ragdoll.

"Hey, you awake?" I asked.

He grumbled and glanced up at me with narrowed eyes. I waited for that recognition to cross his face, knowing I would cherish every small movement. His mouth gaped and his eyes grew wide as he stumbled to stand up, knocking down a water bottle that stood by the bed in his haste.

"Roxas!" he gasped.

"Hey," I laughed. "How have you been?"

"Why did you leave?"

"Straight to the point, I see," I groaned as my smile faded away. "I've already told Xion I don't want to talk about that, Axel. The point is I'm here now, right?"

"They said you were in trouble," he insisted. He grabbed my arms and scanned over me, obviously searching for any sort of injuries. When he found none, he let go and looked me straight in the eye. I knew I wasn't getting off of this as easily as I had with Xion. He was like Sora that way.

"Well I'm not," I persisted. "I'm fine, Axel."

"But-"

"I'm fine," I repeated.

"Roxas is a tough one. He got out without our help."

I turned to see DiZ peering in through the door. He gave a crooked smile and invited himself in. He continued. "So when he says he's fine, you have to take his word for it. There's no way you're going to turn his mind around to anything else."

I sat down on the bed. "When are we going to go back in there?" I was anxious to get to Sora, as he knew, and now that I was here, I wanted to get everyone here and just charge in there, killing every Heartless on the way and bringing back my friends before anything else happened. From what DiZ had said earlier, I thought that that was the way it was going to go. But, suddenly, as I saw the hesitation he gave, the long pause that just made the core of my being boil, I knew I had been tricked in some way.

Before I could say anything, though, he cut me off. "We're not ready to go out and fight just yet. People still aren't completely healed from the last time."

I shot up from the bed and shouted, "You said we'd go back and find him! You said you wouldn't leave him alone! I thought you were going to help me!"

"I did say that, but I didn't say when. It's dangerous right now-"

"If we don't go now, Vanitas will find him first! I can't let that happen. Forget you, I'm going back!" I got up, fully ready to push him out of the way if he chose to step in front of me. But he didn't. He simply watched me as I made my way to the door. Bu as I made it there, Terra and a few other older Nobodies stepped in my way with their arms crossed and their eyes boring into me.

"We can't let you go out on your own again," DiZ pressed. "We _will_ help you find him. But we need to rest first, you included. You haven't had a good night's sleep since you got here, have you? Just wait a little bit."

"I can't wait! He's out there! I need to find him!" I tried to push passed Terra and his friends, but they were like a wall. I glared up at him and he only gave me a silent word of apology.

"Calm down, Roxas. I'm sure he's fine on his own."

"He's not fine on his own! If he was, I wouldn't be needed!"

"Terra, do what you need to do," DiZ sighed.

Terra grabbed a hold of my arms and held me until I couldn't struggle anymore. I felt rope tie my hands and I was pushed back onto the bed.

"What are you doing to him?" Axel demanded.

"He was going to go run off to his death," Terra replied angrily.

"I was going to save my friend!"

"Vanitas is looking for you right now! Do you want to be caught by him again?"

I threw myself off of the bed and charged at him, but as if I meant no harm to him at all, he just grabbed my arm and pushed me back onto the bed. I glared at him, pushing all the anger and hatred I could into that glare. But it didn't work. Terra just rolled his eyes and I was left still tied up.

"He's my Original, Terra. I can't just leave him out there." He had to understand. Any Nobody had to understand. But he just shook his head and refused to cooperate with me. So, I needed to find a way to get out of this myself. I could see their reasoning, of course I did. Knowing me, I would have been reluctant to let another Nobody go too. But I also knew that they'd do anything for their Original, and I'd have no hope of actually keeping them where I wanted them to be. So if he knew that, why didn't he just let me go?

"Make sure he doesn't escape, Axel, Xion," DiZ requested, placing a hand on Terra's shoulder and pushing him and the other Nobodies out of the tent.

I gritted my teeth and failed at trying to break the rope. "Dammit!" I cried.

"What's going on?" Axel asked. "Who's this friend you're trying to save?"

"Sora. Sora's the person I'm trying to save. But I can't!"

"Sora? Who's that?"

"The kid who was with Roxas in the infirmary after Xigbar's last 'prank'," Xion answered. "Remember? The one with the brown spikey hair, like a hedgehog."

"Oooooooooh, that one. What's he doing here?"

"I dragged him into something and now he's in danger and I have to save him," I said, almost too quickly for him to actually catch up. He just nodded, as if he had heard a word I said.

"Why won't they just let you into that town? I don't see anything wrong with it."

"You wouldn't. It looks fine from the outside, but once you get in you see what's wrong with it." I glanced around the room to look for something to use against the rope. I could feel the knife I had in my back pocket. I reached back and, with difficulty, managed to bring it out and position it by the rope.

"Oh, no, you don't," Xion warned and she took the knife from me. "Sora can wait. I'm not letting my best friend go off and die."

If only you knew, I thought, but didn't say. I turned over, feeling so guilty and so stupid. Sora needed me and I was stuck here, taken in by a promise DiZ hadn't even given the details about. How was I going to be able to beat Vanitas if I couldn't even beat my own kind? But I would get out, and I would find Sora. My whole mind was determined to get this right. I wouldn't let Sora be used as a pawn.

Axel huffed and sat down next to me. "But knowing you, you'll find a way out on your own, even with us watching you." He gave me a playful grin and proposed, "How about we make this a little game? You try your best to escape, and we try our best to guard you. Sound good?"

Well, if I knew I was going to get out of this anyway, may as well have a little fun with it. I liked challenges, and I couldn't wait to prove Axel, Xion, DiZ and all the Nobodies wrong. I would save Sora, on my own if I had to. I raised my eyebrow and copied the grin he gave. "You're on." Yes, I'd win this.

**A/N: **_Sorry for this being a little later than usual, but exams are coming up and I've had to buckle down and revise (which is not going well, by the way. Revision and me have just never gotten along). Sorry too for if this chapter sucked a little. But the next ones will be better, I hope at least! Haha. Not much action in this, I know, but I promise you that there will be plenty of action that this is leading up to! :D _


	31. Unintentional

I had to admit, Axel made it hard for me to try anything. When his back was turned, which was rare and far between, I tried to slip off the rope. After a while, I could feel them starting to become loose. But I had rubbed them so much that the skin of my wrists had become red and raw. It pained me now to try to get them loose, but the thought of Sora and Vanitas quickly chased the pain away with urgency.

Axel turned around again and I immediately stopped my attempt at escape. He raised his eyebrow knowingly and I just rolled my eyes.

When it came to nightfall, I'd make my move. I could almost slip my hands out, I was so close, and it would only take for him to turn away once more for me to finally get free! But if he was asleep, I could move out without him noticing. Getting past the Nobodies was going to be a lot harder.

Axel sighed and, after a bit of silence, asked quietly, "Why is Sora so important to you? Since when have you two been friends?"

Besides him, Xion nodded in support. I could see that they had been reluctant to ask anything further after I had told them I didn't want to talk about it, but the need was too much and they must have been very confused about it all. I knew that I myself, had I been in their situation, would have pestered them until they told me, especially if there was a chance they could have been in danger. They were just being friends to me, just like I was to Sora. So, maybe they did deserve a little of the truth. Maybe not all, but just a little bit rather than this avoidance I was giving them.

"It's complicated," I replied. I could see them getting ready to argue, to demand more of an answer, so I cut them before they could, "I know that sounds stupid, but it really is. The people around us now are the same. We have people that we're connected to and who we have to take care of."

"You're appointed people to guard?" Xion mumbled softly and slowly, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

I bit my lip. "Well… I guess you can say it's like that. Anyway, I was 'appointed' Sora not long ago. He gets in danger so much that I have to watch him and make sure he doesn't get himself hurt."

"And when does that end?"

When we die, I thought. But of course I didn't tell them that. If I did, no doubt they'd just take me out of here and never let me near Sora again. So I shrugged and said, "When they don't need us anymore."

"And he's in trouble right now?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Someone is after him to try and get to me. It's kind of like a race now, see who gets to him first." I glanced at Axel and watched his reaction as I said, "Luckily, Riku's with him."

His eyes immediately flamed in anger and his lips pressed into a thing frown. His face dropped, and his expression slipped. No emotion passed his face once the anger faded out. I could see Xion frown again in confusion and her eyes glanced from Axel to me.

"Riku? The other guy that stopped coming to school?"

I nodded, but kept my gaze on Axel. "Why don't you like him, Axel?" I couldn't exactly say I liked him myself, since our first meeting wasn't the best, and we hadn't really tried to get along since either. But we didn't hate each other as much as he and Axel did. "What happened?"

Axel's gaze finally faltered and he looked away from me and Xion. I thought maybe this was the best time to ask. I had given him answers when he wanted them. Maybe he'd give the answers I wanted to know too. But it seemed that I had gone too far. He made no move to answer my question and the air was filled with deep and awkward silence. However, this was me, and I wasn't going to give up that easily.

"I never actually saw you two together," I pushed. True, I hadn't been around for long, anyway, so what happened could have happened long before I arrived. But if something huge had happened to make them hate each other so much, I expected to have seen their hostility towards each other before this, or even heard rumours about it. "Did you used to be friends when you were little? Did he do something to ruin that? Or did you?"

His eyes flashed as he glared at me. It was a sensitive subject, but it was time for him to get this out. It was probably years since it had happened. To bottle up something like that for that long must have been horrible to hold. I knew what it was like to have secrets, but I had the other Nobodies there for me. If I was right, it was only Riku and Axel that knew whatever went on between them, and they weren't exactly going to talk to each other about it.

Then, I asked a question that seemed to fill his eyes with sadness that I had never seen before. I asked, "Did he betray you?" It seemed that I was right. Something happened, someone betrayed someone else (who it was, it wasn't clear), but it had ruined a friendship that I was sure was close before that. "Who betrayed who? How?" I could see that my persistence had begun to pay off.

His guard crumbled and he bowed his head. No tears leaked from his eyes, but his form was filled with such sadness that it didn't need tears to show. So quietly, he hissed, "He left me to die."

I gasped. I wasn't sure why I was so surprised. It would take something like this to cause this much hatred, that I knew, but it still came as a shock once he finally said it. The Riku I had seen, the one that seemed sole-set on protecting Sora, his best friend, didn't seem to be someone who would let a friend die. There must have been some sort of mistake, maybe a misunderstanding or something. Or maybe Riku felt incredibly guilty, and maybe that was why he was so intent on protecting Sora – so that it didn't happen again.

I asked more questions, wanting to know the details, but Axel said no more. He never looked up and he didn't speak again. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought he fell asleep while he was sitting up. But he was just ignoring us, even as Xion placed a hand on his arm. Once night fell, he trudged to his sleeping bag and curled himself inside, falling asleep instantly. It seemed that it had been a huge blow to him and I might have brought back some memories he had wanted to avoid.

I felt stupid, like I shouldn't have pushed him so much, and I felt guilty too. So, once Xion had fallen asleep too, I slipped out of the rope and wrote on a small piece of paper with a pencil 'I win' and set it besides him to find once he woke up. Hopefully, it would cheer him up. I took the bottle of water on the floor and some little snacks that lay around the tent and placed them into my bag, ready to take with me.

I scanned around me as I popped my head out of the small material door. Seeing that it was all clear, I made a run for it, manoeuvring my way around the tents and avoiding the areas where people seemed to still be awake.

I saw a figure move in the darkness and I stopped where I stood, sure that the person had seen me. But they hadn't. They walked into the dim light and I saw someone I had never seen before. He suspiciously walked into a tent that seemed bigger than the rest. As I passed, I heard DiZ voice in the tent, welcoming the guy. I knelt behind a box outside and took a deep breath, too curious to continue.

"You took longer than I thought to come," DiZ huffed. "I was sure he was going to send you sooner."

"He apologises for the reluctance, but you have to understand that the Organisation is going through some trouble at the moment since they let your Nobodies out," the messenger replied.

I felt a shiver run through my spine. This messenger was from Vanitas. And he was meeting with DiZ… I didn't know what to think. DiZ couldn't have been on his side, could he? No. He couldn't have! He'd spent years trying to build us up. He couldn't just do this.

"Yes, yes, well, get to the point," DiZ huffed. "What has he sent you for? What does he want me to know?"

I became aware that my breathing was too loud. I held my hand to my mouth in an attempt to stop it.

"You and the Nobodies have nothing to fear. He is not after them or you."

"Then what is he after?"

I could hear the frustration in his voice. I wasn't sure what was happening, but it set my mind in a whirl. If Vanitas wasn't after me, then I had no reason to stay here. I could leave without being held here and I could look for Sora!

"He's after your Originals," the messenger said calmly. "So I'd advise you to start evacuating all the Originals you have in this camp. Once he gets what he wants in that town, he'll be coming here."

Once he gets what he wants? I just knew he meant Sora. So he really was intent on finding him, to the extent that he was ready to let all of the Originals here go. I needed to get to Sora now.

"Fine, I'll start right away."

"There's still an Original in town that he's after," the messenger carefully added. "What about him?"

There was a moment of silence while I was sure DiZ was thinking. My heart beat faster, and I hoped with all of my being that he would say that he'd save him, that he'd stop Vanitas and help save my Original. But as the silence grew, that hope dwindled.

Please, I thought. Don't say that you'll leave him. Don't ignore him. I gripped the side of the tent so hard that my knuckles began to turn white. The raw skin of my wrists began to burn and I bit my lip hard. Come on! I demanded, but still no answer came.

After a few minutes, he finally said with a reluctant voice, "Vanitas seems to be focusing his time in finding him. We need all the time we can get to save the Original that we cane."

No…

"You're just going to leave him? What if Vanitas gets him? What will his Nobody do?"

"What Vanitas wants, Vanitas gets. It's best if we just leave him to it and save as many as we can."

I gritted my teeth and pulled at the tent wall. It ripped down the side and I was visible to both DiZ and the messenger. I glared at him, sure that my eyes were ablaze with rage and hatred. My limbs trembled with a need to punch him, but it seemed I couldn't take the step. I felt completely and utterly betrayed by him, someone who had promised me we would save him. It had all been a lie all along?

"You bastard!" I screamed at him, making the messenger jump. "How could you? You're supposed to be helping us!"

Before he could say anything, and I could see he was going to, I ran as fast as I could, feeling like I needed to scream at something. I could hear him calling for me, but I didn't stop and he didn't chase me.

As I reached the border of camp, I heard a new voice call me. I stopped and turned. Terra and his friends were running towards me. He looked angry, but as he saw my face once he got closer, his anger fell and he frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" I repeated. "What's wrong?! That bastard is what's wrong! DiZ! Him! He…" I felt tears push at my eye lids. I had spent time defending him before, even when I had been beaten up. Even when Vanitas claimed that DiZ had done something wrong, I had ignored it because I had believed him. But now he was letting my Original go and he didn't even seem to care. So, thanks for that, I thought.

Terra bent down and placed a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong? What did he do?"

My clenched my hands at my sides and tried to calm myself as much as I could. "He's not going to protect Sora. He's not going to save him."

"Not at the moment, Roxas. He told you this," Terra whispered warily. "Once we're all ready, that'll be the first thing we do."

"No!" I explained it all to him, told him what I had heard in hope that maybe he would be on my side on this. It was clear by his reaction that he was confused, unable to accept the fact that the one we had trusted most had let this happen. But he hadn't heard what I had. His hop still lingered, and he wouldn't let go.

"I'm sure you heard it wrong," he insisted. "Maybe he was bluffing. What if they meant someone else?"

I shook my head at each excuse he threw at me. It was clear I wasn't going to get any help from here. So I sighed through my teeth and pushed him out of my way.

"If you're not going to help, then I'll go on my own." I knew I sounded so childish. Terra couldn't help but place his trust in someone who had (or we thought) helped us since we could remember. His trust wouldn't fade away so easily, not without hearing DiZ say those words himself. I had already fought for DiZ when the truth was there before me. Now I wanted to know what Vanitas had to tell me about him.

I pushed him out of the way and raced towards the town. They chased me for a little while before realising they had to stay and watch the camp.

Soon, they'd start evacuating the Originals at camp, so they'll forget about my escape. Maybe they'd remember once they were safe, and maybe then DiZ would decide to help me, but I couldn't wait until then.

I reached the border of town and without hesitation I plunged into it. The heavy atmosphere greeted me once more, and I was engulfed in the darkness of it all. As if summoned by my arrival, Heartless separated themselves from the shadows and surrounded me.

"Nice of you to finally drop by."

I turned at the voice, feeling my rage growing tenfold. There, Vanitas stood with a wicked grin and his arms crossed. I glanced around and found no Sora. I let out a deep breath, thankful that he hadn't found him yet. Yes, I still had a chance.

"What do you want?" I snapped.

His grin grew and there was a definite sparkle in his eyes. He may not have found Sora, but I could see that he had something else planned.

"Poor, poor, Roxas," he chuckled. "Just found out you were betrayed?"

I took a step back. "How…?"

"How do I know?" He took a step towards me. "I have my ways of knowing. My Heartless are very good at getting information for me."

'What Vanitas wants, Vanitas gets.' I remembered what DiZ said. I already knew this, but I never knew how far he'd go to get what he wanted.

"Just either tell me what you want," I persisted, "or get out of my way." The strength in my voice seemed to vanish as I began to realise what it is that was coming. He told me it would be later, but I had forgotten. I thought that maybe my escape would have been able to avoid it, but apparently not.

"Now's the time I call in for those favours I want."

**A/N: **_Ah, revision has begun to get to me! I can feel my brain hurting haha. Anyway, here's another chapter! From what I've been writing so far, it seems this'll be done a little sooner than I had originally planned! Still in the 40s though. Thank you for your continuing support! _


	32. Perfect Purpose

My heart raced. He had warned me that this time was coming, and yet still I forgot. And here it was – here he was, ready to ask me for anything he wanted, and knowing fully well that I would do it. It didn't matter what it was. I knew that, if it was anything worth my reluctance, I would think carefully about it. But, in the end, I would do anything for my Original, as I had been born to do.

"What do you want?" I sighed, defeated before I could even really fight.

He raised a hand and shook his head. "Ah, wait," he chuckled. "Not yet."

"That's all you ever say!" I growled. Get this over with! Tell me what you want and just stop your torture! But I didn't shout that. This was my way out, a way for me to protect Sora. I wasn't going to ruin it before I got the chance to go through with it.

He gave me a gleaming smile, then clicked his fingers. From the shadows of the buildings, other Organisation members appeared. There were more than I had ever seen all together before. Some I recognised. To my immediate right was Xigbar. That I could tell very easily by this cocky aura that surrounded him. Beside him was Seifer, keeping his head down as if ashamed to see me here. Beside him then was the girl I had seen back in the cell. She mimicked the awkwardness of Seifer, keeping her head down and playing with her hands in distraction. There were another nine then, making thirteen once it included Vanitas. I shivered as I looked at them. They formed a circle, surrounding me, preventing my escape and intimidating me beyond what I had ever felt before.

"Why? I would have done anything without them being here," I asked hesitantly. I couldn't help but think that this was another one of his plans, that maybe his favour may have even been my death. It sounded stupid, I knew, because it would bring him no profit, but when faced with a situation like that, you couldn't help but think of the worst.

He shrugged and placed his hands in the depths of his pockets. "I love my dramatics," he replied. He slowly took swinging strides towards me, keeping eye contact and the smile still bright on his face. He said nothing, and let the silence fill the air, knowing that this sent a chill up my spine.

I glanced back, but I knew I couldn't take a step back. The circle was smaller than it had been once they were forming. If I took even a small step back, I'd be close to walking into the person behind me. So I stood still, as if glued to the road, and took the deepest breath that I had ever taken before.

"Your Original is a slippery one," he admitted with the smallest of frowns. "When we think we've found him, he just disappears again, leaving us to wonder whether he had been there at all. That must give you hope, right?"

In all honesty, it did. Maybe if he kept this up, Vanitas might lose interest, or maybe I'd be able to find him. I had feared that Vanitas has shown to me to tell me he had him, that he had found him and was going to use him as blackmail against me- which he was now, but Sora was far safer this way than captured. But, though I hoped, I didn't let that pass my face. My hope would only make Vanitas work harder to crush it. So I kept my face as still as I could, devoid of emotion, and I think it might have worked because his smile slipped just a little.

He stopped before me and eyed my face, desperate to find anything he could use against me. I didn't know why, because he knew full well that I'd do whatever he asked for. But he seemed to like being sure that there would be no opposition.

"Boring," he commented, and sighed a heavy sigh, as if blackmailing was just a game.

"What do you want?" I repeated, a little firmer than before.

He rolled his eyes and held out his hand. A woman behind me, a little smaller than me, ran to him and placed an envelope in his hand, then scurried back to her place. Vanitas opened it, glanced at the letter that rested inside, then folded it neatly back in and held the envelope out to me to take.

"Don't open it yet," he warned. "Open it when you are alone." His eyes then seemed to glance over my shoulder, and a menacing gleam seemed to take him. "The instructions of what I want you to do are in there. It's vague, but you'll get the point very well. You don't have to be smart to understand, really."

I wasn't sure whether that was an insult or not.

He flicked his head to the side, and the Organisation members vanished into thin air suddenly, leaving behind a small trace of lingering shadow. Vanitas leaned to one side, clicked his tongue and watched me carefully.

"What?" I asked suspiciously.

He gave a twitch of his nose, then answered, "I'm just wondering what your reaction will be."

My breath caught in my throat and the letter in my hand suddenly weighed heavier.

He smirked. "Let's get this thing started. It'll be fun." Then he vanished too, leaving me to the darkness of the lonely road. I swallowed, thinking of my next move. They'd leave Sora for now, right? I shook my head. Of course they wouldn't. Of course _he_ wouldn't. But I couldn't go rushing around just anywhere. I needed somewhere for myself to rest in the times that I needed it.

"Leon and Yuffie's," I concluded aloud. Yes, that would be the best place for the moment.

As I took a step forwards, I was suddenly aware of a voice calling behind me. I turned to see the flaming red hair and the crusty eyes of Axel, and behind him was a yawning Xion. I cursed silently, and turned to be ready to run.

"Don't you dare!" Axel scolded, like a teacher to a student.

It didn't take long for him to reach me because of his long legs. He narrowed his eyes at me and said with a smile, "I win."

I couldn't help groan at that, but I gave him a small smile. "What are you doing here?" I asked, just as Xion finally reached us. She gasped for breath, but gave me a nod of her head as greeting.

"Well, someone decided to be stupid and run away while we were sleeping, so we had to chase after him," he replied.

I pushed the envelope into my pocket, hoping that they hadn't seen. It crossed my mind in wonder whether they had seen Vanitas and the others, but I doubted that. They would have asked, that I was sure. So I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that I had not those questions to answer on top of everything else.

"There's a chance we might see Riku," I cautioned.

There was some hesitation in his face, but he shook his head and cast it away. "I'll get to finally get even with him."

I didn't know what he was planning to do, but no point in arguing. I scanned around, wondering which was the way to Leon's. As if instinct took over, I started off to my right. I saw from the corner of my eye the glance between Axel and Xion, but they shrugged it off and followed with nothing more to say.

It felt like there was some rope dragging me towards somewhere, and sometimes I was convinced it was so. I didn't seem to be able to make a decision, because my body took me wherever it wanted. Maybe I remembered where he lived and it was simply my body reacting to that thought. Or maybe it was something more. Maybe it really was where I needed to be right now, with a fellow Nobody that might believe me when I said what I heard DiZ say. It was just what I needed – someone to talk to that wouldn't immediately take sides, but help me through it.

Before I knew it, we arrived at his door. I tapped on it, and Yuffie answered, with the same bright smile that she had before. I smiled back and she welcomed us in without even asking who my friends were.

Leon sat on a chair in the main room, raising a curious eyebrow once he saw me, and let it drop once Axel and Xion followed in.

"What's wrong?"

I immediately knew what he was getting it – being a fellow Nobody, who had an Original himself, he saw that Sora wasn't with me. That unnerved him almost as much as it did for me.

"I don't know where he is," I answered plainly. I raised my hand and rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. "I was separated from him and he went into hiding."

He nodded his head. He could sense what I meant behind 'hiding'. Meaning, there was someone after him. The fact that I wasn't hiding meant that only he was in danger. His eyes glanced nervously at Yuffie and I gave a small nod.

"They're only after them," I confirmed. "A messenger said so when he came to see one of us."

He knew my meaning behind that too. 'One of us' – the traitor, the reason I was here now, and not with them. I could tell he understood by the falling frown of his lips and the sympathetic raise of his brow.

He nodded and bit his inside cheek. "What are you going to do?"

"I have to look for him. The others at camp won't help me, so I'll go looking myself. But what are you going to do, knowing that he's not after us?"

He shrugged and was careful not to glance at Yuffie, who listened intently with confusion lining her face. "I can't leave, not without someone else going first."

I knew that he wouldn't leave without Yuffie wanting to go. She wouldn't leave this place, so of course he wouldn't either. So he was stuck here just as much as I was, except he had his Original beside him.

I leaned forwards with his elbows on his knees and retreated deep into thought. Now that he knew the danger too, his thoughts would run wild with question of what to do. A thought suddenly came to him though in his confusion, and he looked up at me with wide eyes.

"We have someone we know," he began, who lives here too and is great with computers. If anyone can find Sora, he certainly can. And he can keep an eye on the town for you, tell you if anything suspicious is going on. He does that for us."

I nodded, sudden excitement coursing through my veins at the news. Finally, there was something I could do! "Who?"

"His name is Cid, and he hides out somewhere in the Western part of town. Those monsters haven't been able to find him since they started looking a while back. I'll get in touch with him and ask if he can find him for you."

I nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! That would be amazing!" I calmed my breathing, finding that it had started to go a little too quickly. "What do I need to do? I don't have a picture or anything-"

"A description will do. That's enough for him to find anyone, quickly too."

I couldn't stop the beaming smile on my face. "As quick as he can."

I could feel my heart hammering at my rib cage. Finally, I might be able to find Sora. I wanted to find him as quickly as possible, and take him away from this town, as far away as we could go. Then I'd be able to carry on my purpose in peace, and pass by his hand with no hesitation. It could finally be done.

We settled for the night then, after Leon had asked what was wrong with me beyond what I had said. He asked me about this traitor, and I told him everything (once I was sure that Axel, Xion and Yuffie were preoccupied with food), finding that the words flowed from my mouth with great ease. I needed to get it out, I realised. I felt betrayed by a man I had placed my faith into, and that had hurt my core being. Someone I fought for, and I found he did not fight for me. Leon felt that this was also his pain, and I saw that in the way he narrowed his eyes and fumed with anger. My betrayal was his betrayal too, after knowing that someone would willingly give up an Original, even if it was not theirs. I told him too that DiZ had been an Original once, back years ago, and had killed his Nobody and remembered it. He puzzled over whether the shock of that had made me stay behind, looking for my own well-being, and maybe even trying to break this connection by separating me and Sora, even if that meant Sora's death. I had to admit, the thought did make me wonder for a second. But, then, he more than anyone should have understood that I wouldn't let that happen. Our connection could never be broken so easily, and that was no reason for betrayal.

We had to stop in the middle of our conversation and let it go once the others had finished, then retired to sleep. But I waited until the easy breathing of the others was the only sound in the house before I opened my eyes and sat up.

Axel and Xion slept on either side of me, but both were turned away. I could tell by the slow rise and fall of their bodies that they were fast asleep, exhausted from the time they had spent coming after me and sleeping in an uncomfortable bed in the tent of the camp. They were on proper mattresses now, and they left not a second to distract them from their sleep.

With a gulp, I reached for the envelope, feeling my hands tremble once it touched the cool paper. It still weighed heavily, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to open it or not. I was tempted to just rip it up and never look at it, to move away from all of this and just leave it behind. But Sora needed me, and I knew I needed him. I couldn't leave him, even if this small obstacle leapt in my way.

So, temptation lost, I opened it before I could hesitate again, and unfolded the letter inside. Instantly, I felt my jaw drop and my breath leave my body for a small second. I let it drop to my lap, and I felt my head collapse into my hands. Now I knew what Vanitas had meant by my reaction. It was as if he had timed it perfectly, purposely for this moment, and I knew that somewhere, somehow, he was watching, and he was enjoying my lapse of strength. He just kept coming back with things to throw me off in the most violent way.

The letter read, "Lure DiZ to the woods outside the city. If you do this, we'll hold off on our search for Sora."

He knew I couldn't fight back.

**A/N: **_Sorry for it being a little... Meh-ish, but coursework and school was just too much for me to of my time was taken up by what school wanted to throw at me! I had no time to myself… So, sorry again, but here it is! :D Let me know what you think, and thank you all! _


	33. I'd Cross The Line For You

I stayed awake for a long few hours that night. With my back against the wall, my knees pulled tightly to my chest, my hand wiping away the nervous beads of sweat on my forehead and my constant heaving sighs, time passed the slowest it had ever for me before. The letter, still new and crisp, hardly touched on the floor beside me, stared up at me with its sharp words.

It was as if Vanitas knew my faith in DiZ had fallen. But… But this? I glanced at the words and I felt a shiver run up violently in my spine. I looked quickly away again. I didn't know exactly what they would do to him, but I was sure it wasn't going to be good. Say if… if they really did do something terrible to him? Like torture him, or force him to do things for them too. Would I really want something like that on my mind? The further I fell into this, the more Vanitas would have to hold against me for later. That I knew well, but Sora was on the line. Maybe I could hold it off until this Cid person found Sora.

I gave a slow and bitter laugh, much too quiet for others to wake from. Of course I wouldn't be able to hold it off. Leon had said he was quick, but Vanitas would want this done soon. Hell, he probably wanted it done by that night. He hadn't said as much, but he'd want it done.

I clenched my hand into a fist, torn between what to do. DiZ may have been a liar, may have betrayed me, may have done the worst thing he could do against me in giving up my Original, but I didn't know his reason. I had run out before I had given him the chance, and I realised that that was stupid now. Funny how it took my own potential betrayal to set me straight on listening to the reason for his. Whether I'd find that out now though was the question.

My chest swelled and my throat burned as I thought over my choices. But I'd need to make a decision quickly – I was running out of night.

Finally, I make a choice, and it all came down to the idea of safety. If anything turned bad, DiZ could look after himself. But if anything turned bad for Sora, he'd need all the security he could get. I needed to do anything to make sure that Sora was safe, and I couldn't do that by ignoring Vanitas' offer of leaving him alone. So, taking a deep breath and holding back my reluctance, I stood up, jaw clenched and gulping back my nervousness, and walked silently towards the window. I opened it up and jumped down, only making a small noise once I hit the floor with my shoes. Looking down the dark streets, I got my bearings, wondering which was it was that the camp was, then followed my instincts. I cleared my mind of any thought, knowing full well that I needed to stick to this, and hoping that nothing bad came of it.

Somewhere in the back of my mind thought, a small voice told me that of course something would go wrong. Something always did. Just because I came up with a choice that seemed the better of the two didn't mean that it really was the best. I wasn't strong enough to be what it was I wanted. I'd learn that as I went, but that was if I didn't make a terrible choice now. And in the gut of my stomach, something told me this was.

I hadn't even brought anything with me. I ran alone, with my baggy trousers, my white T-shirt and some socks and shoes thrown on once I realised that my choice may have taken this choice earlier on. The cold bit at me and I felt my cheeks sting at the frost in the air, but I comforted myself in the idea that this was going to do some good. It was hope really, but the mind had a funny way of changing that into fact in the darkest of times.

I reached the border of the town, and it was here that my reluctance finally broke through my defences. I stopped suddenly, my breath heaving as I turned to look at the town. I could ignore it and search for Sora, as I had already thought of. I could do it. I didn't have to do this. But as I turned to look at the direction of camp, into the short horizon that lightly touched the starry sky, I knew for sure that this was it. The future came to this and I had made my choice. Sora was more important than DiZ could ever be.

Shaking my head, I ran towards the camp, knowing that any objective thoughts were faltering as my mind was set. Nothing could now stir me from this.

I reached the border of camp. Few lights were on and barely anything moved. I kept just out of the way so that the guards set up wouldn't be able to see me. DiZ tent was barely in my view, but I could see it enough to know that all lights inside had been turned off and the flap entrance swung a little in the light breeze. I scanned around, seeing no one around me, and took a step forwards. But, as I stared for a great deal of time at that tent, I realised there was something oddly lonely about that tent. With the others, there was a slight shadow cast by the fire in the middle of the entire camp of the inhabitants within. But there was none for his tent. With that, I turned on my heels and strode to move around the camp, looking for his form walking around the camp.

I circled it for a while, sure that he was not in that tent. He must have found it hard to sleep, just like me. Maybe he did feel guilty for what he had done, and maybe he did feel something for my words. Or maybe he was just on one of his trips again, one that none of us ever knew about. I had no doubt about his Key finding story – of that, I was sure he was telling the truth. But there was something else that weighed on my mind. He hadn't been entirely truthful, like the reason of why he wanted to find the Keys. For all I knew, they could be used to bring us down as well as building us up.

It was a further hour when I finally came across something. I had sighted DiZ in one quick glance, but it wasn't at camp. He had breezed through the undergrowth of the border, and then disappeared from my eyes. I followed, my heart hammering through my chest. But I couldn't find him. He wasn't there when I reached a small clearing, set beside a trickling stream that shone brightly in the high moon's light.

"You're back early for someone who ran away with hatred in his eyes," came a shallow voice from behind me. It rang with sadness, but also of defiance, making it clear that he wouldn't take back what he had said and did.

I turned, seeing DiZ standing there with a small smile that I knew would fade away just as quickly as he had appeared.

I swallowed and inhaled deeply. Here it was, I thought. No turning back now, whatever this is going to turn in to. I said nothing, only stared into those yellow eyes, trying to communicate silently with him. What I was trying to say, I really didn't know, but his answer was a pitiful gaze.

Just as I had thought, his smile melted away instantly. "He caught up to you. Did he promise not to hurt Sora?"

"Actually, he promised to hold off the search," I bit at him.

I saw the small flinch in his frame, one of momentary weakness. "Of course, his safety means the world to you."

"It does."

"What did he want in return."

There was only a very small hesitation before I replied bluntly, "You."

He gave a short and sad laugh, as if he knew that this was coming. Vanitas had been after him before, true, but he had always avoided it. I could see the years of weariness suddenly show in the sagging of his shoulders. Years of running. But he knew now that a Nobody would do anything to finish their purpose, and he stood in the way of mine. His running was over because I was here.

"Just so you know," I hurriedly cut in before he said anything, "I've been spending hours thinking over what to do. It's more than you deserve."

"It is. Why did you waste all those hours to come down to this?"

I crossed my arms and furrowed my brows in annoyance. "Because, unlike you, I can't throw away my loyalties away so easily. I've believed in you since I heard about you, and that only grew once I finally met you after finding Sora. I can't just leave that, not even after your decision to leave my Original."

"Once he gets me, you do know what he's going to do, right?" he asked. "He'll do anything to make sure you don't get the Keys."

Yeah, I feared what would come of it. "But you can find a way to get out of it."

"Yes." But he didn't sound so sure. And I wasn't either.

"Maybe all he wants to do is ask you stuff." Yeah, right. He'll want to take him captive, even I knew that.

He just gave me a gentle smile, gave a nod of his head and said quietly, "Lead the way."

It did kind of pass through my mind, the question of why he was just going through with this when he knew what was coming, but I was just thankful that I didn't have to fight him. Saving Sora was just becoming a little easier because of this, in my eyes.

We didn't speak as we moved through the labyrinth of bushes and hedges that lined the space between the camp and the trees. The sky became just a little lighter by the time we arrived. I didn't know where it was that Vanitas wanted to meet in the woods, but my question was answered once we saw the small Heartless standing by a tree. It hopped over to us, twitching its antennae and tilting its head as it gazed up at us.

We followed as it ran through the trees, so quickly that we were forced to run with it rather than the comfortable speed we had been at before. Before we knew it, we reached a place like any other in the woods, a simple space filled with trees, completely blending in with its surroundings.

No others were there, just a few Heartless, and that was it. I glanced around, but we were alone. I turned to look at DiZ and saw the shrug of his shoulders. I opened my mouth to call, but before any words came out, there came a rustle from above and bodies fell from the high branches.

I was grabbed my two pair of arms, locking me in a tight embrace and holding me still, a hand to my mouth to keep me from shouting. Before me, DiZ was dragged to face Vanitas, who lazily leaned back against a tree as he inspected his finger nails.

"You didn't come to me willingly so I had to do this, you understand," Vanitas hissed at DiZ.

DiZ was forced to the floor to kneel before him and kept there with a foot to his back. At first, he didn't answer, only strained to gain some sort of position that he could be comfortable with. When it was evident that he wasn't going to get that, he looked up at Vanitas with a sneer and whispered, "It was always like you to use such tactics to get what you wanted."

"Just like my father, eh?" Vanitas took one last look at his nails before he pushed himself from the tree and paced to stand over DiZ, looming over him with a frown. "It's your fault for turning your back on my father. But we won't go away, DiZ. I've hunted you down, and you will pay, just like the other traitor you took with you."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. The words made no sense to me. Turned his back? Another traitor? I so wanted to shout at them, demand an answer, because I hated this confusion that boiled inside of me. But the hand at my mouth pressed harder and I found it became slightly harder to even breathe, let alone speak.

"You leave him out of this," DiZ growled.

"Maybe, if your suffering makes up for it."

"Don't lie, Vanitas," DiZ sighed, letting his head drop. "It will never make up for it. Once you have me, it'll give you all the more reason to go after him."

My eyes widened as I saw the shock in Vanitas' eyes. It had been a surprise to him to know that DiZ could spot his real intention, something that I had no hope of doing. By now, I was sure I was forgotten by the two as I watched on. Their world now consisted of each other, spurred on by past betrayal and present revenge.

For the first time, I really saw Vanitas lose control. He reached for a thick branch that grew from the tree, wrapped his hand around it, and pulled it out with ease. "He betrayed me! You my father, and he me! Always someone close to us!" He threw the branch over our heads and it slammed into the floor with a crunch. "Of course I'm going to hunt him down and make him pay!"

Genuine fear flooded through me. I wasn't able to handle Vanitas when he wasn't angry. But this? Maybe this had been the best choice, rather than face his wrath if I hadn't brought DiZ here.

"Your father-"

"My father did everything for you! You were the one who convinced him to stay away from his Nobody, to try and live and forget about what he was. He trusted your judgement and he took it!"

"And then he went overboard, making those monsters and trying to take out the Nobodies and Originals-"

"_You_ gave him the idea! You hated them just as much as he did!"

I winced, seeing the man before me as someone new. Of all the explanations I could have thought up to excuse DiZ betrayal, that hadn't been one of them.

"I _did_. But I thought a lot about it-"

"And then betrayed us, destroying the monsters my father made, and sending him off to his own death by his own personal murderer." Vanitas took a deep breath in an attempt to control his anger. He gave one of his smirks, but it was so lined with anger that it failed in its intimidation. "You turned on us and joined the enemy. You knew I'd come find you, you and that bastard. And then you go looking for the Keys to try and save them."

I was beginning to think that maybe I had had it all wrong, that maybe DiZ had never betrayed me at all. What if there had been a good reason for his actions? But those thoughts were suddenly cut off as Vanitas turned his attention to me.

This time, his smile was the most frightening I had ever seen coming from him. He saw the little hope that had started, and he knew he had the power to finally crush it. He walked towards me and leaned in towards me, but he still addressed DiZ as he spoke.

"But you couldn't find the Keys, so you began to give up," he chuckled. "You were desperate to find other ways to cut this connection, because soon there might be someone you hold dear that might fall into the trap. So you started to make experiments. Who better to perform these experiments than on these Nobodies that you had right in front of your eyes?"

A new wave of confusion clouded my vision.

"You began to change the structure of it all, trying your best to keep some Nobodies from ever finding their Originals, sometimes killing them before they could find them, sometimes killing their Originals, and sometimes making the Nobody forget instead of the Original and sending them far away. But it never worked, did it?" He nodded his head at someone behind me, and the hand at my mouth slipped away. "Roxas, you were just part of his experiments. You and Sora both, just pawns for his use in finding a way to finish this. You and the other Nobodies are."

Tears stung at my eyes. The anger I felt towards Vanitas had been swapped to DiZ, and it was more anger than I had ever felt before. How dare you, how dare you, how dare you, I kept repeating in my mind.

"What were you planning for Roxas and Sora, though?" he asked, moving to the side a little so that I had a clearer view of DiZ. I glared at him, my rage making my vision go slightly red as the blood pumped through me. But he didn't meet my gaze. The guilt and the fear of being found out filtered through the air around him. "Were you just going to keep them away from each other? Make Roxas forget him? Kill one of them? Or what?"

I struggled to get out then. I wanted to get out of their clutches, but not to escape – oh no, definitely not for that. I wanted so much to just attack the man before me. Kill, if my anger boiled down to that.

"You… You… Wha… I…" I couldn't get my words through my gritted teeth. I shut my eyes and just screamed out, listening as my voice carried out into the shadows.

Once I finished, Vanitas laughed, shaking his head and wiping a mock tear from the corner of his eye. He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "Here, allow me to be rid of him for you."

Before I could fully understand what he was getting at, the Heartless around us tripled, and a group of them jumped onto DiZ, immersing him in a blanket of darkness. He shouted out, but not as loudly as I would have had I been in his place. A lone hand of his found its way out into the air and it clutched at the ground, as if he was being dragged away somewhere. His fist curled around only leaves, and then it was gone. Once the Heartless left his body, there was nothing left on the floor. He was gone, and there was no trace left of him, not even a foot print.

With no voice left, I turned to Vanitas, my eyes wide and my jaw dropping. I stared at the space where DiZ had been before me. "Is he dead?" I croaked out painfully.

He gave me a sarcastic smile, hissed, "Now, that's not really any of your business anymore, is it? But if you must know, yes, I've finally dealt with him for his crimes. I expect more favours from you after this," then turned away and clicked his fingers. I was dropped to the floor on all fours, and I stayed still as they skulked away, leaving me alone once again. I was beginning to think that this was a habit of his – facing me and ruining what I stood for, then walking out without another word.

It wasn't like I hadn't known what I was doing. The fact was, I had known, and that was the problem. That was that made the failure, the mistake. That was why everything went wrong. And I knew that well, more so then than I had ever known before, and more than I would ever know. I wasn't even sure if I was happy for his death, or if I was sad over it. In the end, I guessed it must have just blended in with my confusion and my numbed senses, because I felt nothing. But I did know that I hadn't expected it to come down to that. Now DiZ was dead, and I had no guarantee that the search on Sora had halted at all.

What had I done?

**A/N: **_This was put up way before I expected to be able to do it! I sat down and began to write, and before I knew it, I had it finished, checked over, and enough time to put it up! :D It's a little longer than all the others I put up, so sorry if it dawdles in some parts. But let me know what you think! It's really starting to pick up, and it'll pick up more in the ones to come. I'd love to know your responses. :)_


	34. Pieces

With my head bowed and my steps small and dragging, I trudged back to Leon and Yuffie's. I took a long gulp and a low sigh before I pushed the door open, not caring anymore if I woke someone up. It was light out anyway, so they would be waking up soon.

The room was dark when I walked in to meet it. The door clicked softly as it closed and I glanced up to see the fiery red hair of Axel, who sat on one of the wooden chairs, staring at me with calm anger. He'd been waiting for me, no doubt. But he didn't ask me anything. He must have seen the look on my face, because his anger faded and a sad frown formed his lips.

I pulled up a chair and sat opposite him, resting my head in my hands. Quietly, I messaged my forehead, just thankful that he was there, just sitting there, with me, because it felt nice having someone who cared for me there. It didn't matter what he said, as long as he was just _there._

He must have known that, because he let the long silence fill between us. He leant forwards, rested a hand on my shoulder and I could hear his breath before me. There came a slight shuffle upstairs, probably from those who were about to wake, but both of us paid no attention. This was about comfort, not about what I had done.

"I crossed the line," I muttered, flinching at how broken my voice sounded. "I didn't even like the guy, not at the end, anyway. Not then. But before, I liked him. He was a good guy, I thought." To him, I knew that this meant nothing. But he didn't push, he didn't ask me anything, he just let me mumble away what this was even if he didn't understand. "I just don't know. I still hate him, but I don't at the same time. I don't know if I should trust what the other guy said, but he didn't deny it. If it's true, then I shouldn't be sad. But he was always there for us, and it's hard to just let go of that, you know?"

"Yeah, I know that pretty well," Axel whispered.

I glanced up to see the sorrow in his eyes. I narrowed my eyes in confusion, but it suddenly dawned on me. 'He left me to die' – So he and Riku really had been friends once, before Riku turned on him. I wanted to ask more, but he wasn't asking anything of me, so I couldn't push him when he wasn't doing it to me. I nodded, thankful at least that he understood.

"Now I don't know what to do. The other guy - he promised me something, and now I don't know if he's going to stick to it."

Axel let his hand drop from my shoulder and he leaned back with a heavy sigh. "What do you want to do?"

I bit my lip. After this? I didn't know. But I couldn't let this go to waste. If I had been responsible for DiZ's death, then I needed to make the most of this. I needed to take the opportunity to find Sora, now while Vanitas was distracted and thought he was ahead.

"Find Sora," I answered. I looked up, feeling my emotions slowly returning to me. "I'm going to find Sora. That's what I want to do."

A faint smile crept onto one side of Axel's mouth. "If that's what's going to make you feel better, go find him."

I cast my eyes down in deep thought. But where to look? After some pondering, I guessed that the best place for the moment was the apartment in the centre that we had stayed at. Of course, they wouldn't still be there, but there might be clues. Maybe they left a note there or something, a note that only I would be able to find if I returned. There had to be something, anything.

"Can you come with me?"

Axel's eyes widened, as if he hadn't expected me to ask for help. "What?"

I hadn't entirely expected myself to ask either, but it made sense. Maybe it was time I had to admit I needed help with this. I shouldn't push him away anymore when he was offering assistance. So, I repeated, "Can you come with me? You know, to find Sora. I don't want to do it alone."

He gave a short chuckle. "So you're asking for help now?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I am. Are you going to come with me or not? I can just leave you here-"

"No!" he interrupted quickly. "No. I want to come with you. I'm not going to just leave you while you're like this."

I couldn't help but smile at that. Axel, my friend, would help me.

We gathered some minor things for our bags, like water and some food, but that was mainly it. Then we left quickly before the others had a chance to realise we had left. The streets had already begun to fill with people, the same dead people that crawled through it every day. Some nodded a greeting, and some uttered words like 'morning', otherwise, no one bothered with us much.

I could see Axel glancing around at the Heartless that stood on the building tops, a look of fear slowly growing with each that appeared. They watched us, and I knew that Vanitas would learn of this soon. I glared at one of them, suddenly feeling like I could take them all on. I didn't really care for that at that moment, because if DiZ's death taught me anything, it was that I needed to find Sora as fast as I could.

We arrived at the apartment, and already it was clear once we reached the door that it hadn't been lived in for a while. Dust rested on the handle, with only faint finger marks on the metal. I pushed it open, finding that it hadn't been locked. I glanced at Axel with a wary look. He nodded and we carefully walked in. The lights were off and a cold and damp smell filled our noses. Switching on the light, I saw that there must have been a small struggle of some sort.

Some of the chairs had been tipped over, and the table rested upside down. There was a single broken glass by the door. But, other than that, there was nothing else that seemed out of place. There was no blood, no holes in the wall, nothing else that was broken. So, it wasn't that they had been in a fight, but maybe they had been in a rush to escape. To try and confirm my suspicions, I ran around, trying to find anything that had belonged to them, but I found the place to be bare. Everything that had been theirs had gone, so they hadn't had to escape without taking things.

I took in a deep breath, feeling the relief flood through me. None of them were hurt – well, Hayner was already, but he wasn't hurt more than he was. Once I had figured that out, I paced the place slowly, my eyes roaming over all surfaces or even the floor, anywhere that they may have left a clue for me.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Axel called to me, still waiting in the main room.

"Look for some clue, something like a note or something else. Anything that looks out of place," I replied.

"So this broken glass is supposed to be here? It adds some nice decoration, must say."

I rolled my eyes and let out a soft snort of amusement. "Ha, ha, ha, now just look."

But I didn't find anything, and neither did Axel. Nothing lay around the place, which made me think that maybe they had been in some sort of rush – not enough to leave everything behind, but in too much of one that they couldn't leave behind something for me to find.

My hope plummeted. This had been my best hope, and that Cid guy hadn't come back yet. I just couldn't wait for him to find something, even if he was quick. I dropped into one of the chairs that sat up in the right way, and closed my eyes. Maybe if I just sat for a little while and thought over it, maybe it would come to me. Axel's easy shuffles sounded in the next room as he still looked. He was unsure of what he was looking for, but I was grateful that he was trying all the same.

There came a soft tap on the door frame, and I jumped. A shadow was cast on the floor, set by a figure in the door way as they cut out the morning light. I looked up to see a young woman with big bright eyes, long brown hair that curled behind her and pink bow behind her head, combined with a long pink dress. She gave me a warming smile, and it settled my suspicions in my heart. I stood up and walked towards her.

"Um, I was just wondering… Are you by chance looking for the ones who lived here for a short while?"

Her voice cut through my icy wall and warmed me instantly. Without knowing why, a smile made its way onto my face. "Uh, yeah, I am. How did you know?"

"I saw you with them when you moved in, so I just wondered if you lost them," she replied. With a nod from me, she continued, "I saw them leave, and you weren't with them."

My eyes widened, as did my smile, as optimism settled in one again. "You saw them? What happened? Where did they go?"

She took a step back as I took one close, but she giggled at my reaction. "They left in a rush, with everything in their hands, barely packed. They had fear in their eyes, and they kept looking behind them, as if they expected someone to be following. It's not rare in a town like this, because people are always scared of what might be following, but they had a different feeling about them. No one runs away here, no one gets away. But they did." She raised her hand and pointed northwards, her eyes gleaming in the light that shone our way. "They headed into the north of the town, following the little alley streets. From what I heard, they didn't plan on leaving the town. I think they were looking for a place underground. Maybe they knew of a basement in some building."

"Axel!" I hollered. "We're leaving!" I glanced at her, and I felt something pop inside of me as realization came into being. This was too much of a coincidence. My lips pulled up into a smirk. "He asked you to keep an eye on us, didn't he? Riku did, just in case something happened."

She giggled again and nodded. "He knew I wasn't like the others, that I wanted the creatures gone, so of course I wouldn't sell you out." She held out her hand and introduced herself as, " My name is Aerith."

I shook her hand. "Roxas. And thanks. I guess Riku was good for something."

"He said that you guys could help get rid of the monsters," she whispered.

My smile fell. I couldn't make promises that I couldn't keep, and I wasn't sure that I could keep this, but Riku had made it. Maybe he thought he could help them, or maybe he knew something that I didn't. I just nodded and said, "We'll try."

"That's all I ask."

"Thanks," I said again. I grabbed hold of Axel's sleeve and pulled him along as we made our way through the streets north-ways. I could feel her gaze on my back, and I chanced myself a glance. She gave a smile and waved her hand, and I smiled back, but it dropped as I looked away. So much hope resting on us, and I began to feel burdened with it all. Not that I'd ever tell anyone, though.

Instantly, I saw the small alleys that she had been speaking about. We made our way through them, finding that they went on for a long while, never meeting the streets again but guiding us through the gap between the tall buildings that stood on either side of us.

"When is the end of this?" Axel huffed.

"It can't be long now," I replied.

But I was so wrong. It went on for what seemed like hours longer, taking us further and further away from what must have been the edge of town. But the buildings still loomed over us, and I could still hear the crowd on the other side. The darkness of the alley, shielded from the hanging sun, seemed to be playing tricks on our mind. But it dawned on me that it was because it was all the same, that we had no sense of time, so it might have only been one hour for us. Maybe a little more. The sun hadn't passed through the middle of the sky yet, so it hadn't even grown to midday yet. Once I found Sora, Riku and Hayner, I would demand to know the time.

As I thought that, there came a sharp corner in the alley. We turned, and suddenly we were hit by the sun. I shielded my eyes, blinking away the burning and scanned the surroundings. From what I could see, the alley ended here, but in a massive cemented clearing. Inside the clearing was a big old house, with rackety wooden walls and a broken tiled roof. It creaked in the light breeze.

"How the hell did they hide here? It's not exactly hidden, is it?"

But as Axel asked it, I could feel the heavy air about the place, as if there was something invisible that covered the top of the walls. I didn't bother asking what it was, because I knew I wouldn't find out. This must have been a place where someone else had hidden, long ago, and their magic, or whatever it was, still lingered and hid those who found this place. As I took a step forwards, a feeling slammed into me. I froze, my mouth gaping and my eyes wide. Axel saw my face and asked if I was okay.

I was more than okay. I was great. Because I could feel his presence, right there in that house. I had finally found him, before Vanitas could. He was right there in front of me, and I had won.

Before Axel could figure what I was about to do, I rushed passed him and towards the house, my heart hammering in my chest.

Finally.

**A/N: **_Here we go, hope you like it! Thank you all for your reviews, for making it to 100! It means a lot to me, it really does, that people are enjoying this :) _


	35. Faced Revelations

I slammed open the door, gasping for breath as I slowed down in my pace. The darkness of the house was what greeted me, bringing the cold air with it. As I listened, I could hear not a thing. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it really was abandoned. But with each step I took, the familiar feeling I could sense only grew stronger. He was here, and that I was sure of.

"Wait up, Roxas," Axel panted as he finally caught up with me. "What are you doing?"

I stepped in through the threshold, not once waiting to take a breath. He was definitely here, no mistaking it, but I didn't know where. He was hiding somewhere and I still couldn't find him!

"Hello?" I called, loudly enough to shake the very foundations of the old house. I paused, waiting for an answer, but nothing came. "It's me! It's Roxas! Guys, where are you?" I ran towards the centre of the main hall, and shouted again, but still no reply. Could they not hear me?

I ran into one of the other rooms to the left of me. Axel didn't ask more, knowing that I wouldn't answer, but just followed me in silence. I called out again, a little louder this time, sending the ceiling into a shudder, casting dust to fall onto our heads.

I ran from room to room, calling their names, over and over again, but not once did my hope fall, not even when silence met my ears. They just couldn't hear me, I knew.

Once arriving to the kitchen, I finally found something. Along the edges, besides the walls, there were some faint footsteps, carefully made. I followed them slowly, smiling to myself as I imagined the three as they snuck their way in. It stopped at an old pine door, barely hanging on its hinges. I opened it cautiously, then called into the darkness at the bottom of the stone stairs, "Hello? Guys? I'm Roxas."

II barely had time to register a movement in the shadows, or recoil as I saw it coming closer, before I was slammed into the floor with such a force that it knocked the wind right out of me. I coughed out the dust that had found its ways into my nose and mouth, then glanced up at the figure before me. Wide familiar eyes filled my view, now narrowed because of the pain in his side.

"Hayner," I laughed, before I pushed him up and sat him down.

He held a hand to his ribs, supporting his broken bones, and looked up at me with one of the widest smiles I had ever seen him wear. He gaped, unsure on what to say.

"What's wrong? Tongue tied?" I bent down and felt his ribs, feeling the slight swelling that grew on the skin. I sighed. He had hurt them again in his haste to get away from the centre of town. "You're an idiot. You're already injured; don't go jumping on people without thinking."

He stared down at me and replied, "No, you're the idiot. How could you let yourself be caught?"

"I didn't let myself. I fought, you know. Plus, I've learned some interesting things."

He simply rolled his eyes and shook his head. He finally seemed to notice Axel then, and his smile vanished. "And you've brought someone."

Oh, right, kind of forgot that. I nodded and stood aside. "Yeah, Hayner, this is Axel. Axel, this is Hayner." They gave their greetings, and left it at that.

Hayner turned back to me, anger suddenly sparking in his eyes. "When they came to tell us that you were caught, do you have any idea how hard it was to keep Sora from running right to your side? He almost got away too. If it hadn't been for Riku, Sora would be in their hands now."

I nodded, glancing down. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Axel flinch at the name of his former friend, and shift awkwardly from foot to foot.

"Where are they now?" I asked.

Hayner tilted his head down to the darkness behind the door, and replied, "There's a hidden room down in the basement. Riku was the one who found it when we were looking for the best place to hide."

He got up hesitantly, cringing as the burning in his side. I jumped to his side, pulling him besides me and placing his arm over my shoulders in support. Slowly, we made our way down the stone stairs and towards the back of the basement. Hayner directed us to a decaying wine shelf. Axel moved it aside, and a long corridor appeared before our eyes. Droplets dribbled from the ceiling, sometimes caught in the low hanging cobwebs. The corridor was barely enough to fit two people sideways, so it did become difficult to continue to help Hayner, but we managed to somehow.

The corridor then opened up into a large bunker, with low ceilings, rows and rows of storage – filled with food and water, no doubt –several beds set up besides the wall on the far side, a shelf of books, games and other things to entertain, a few pictured hanging from the walls, and two doors on either side of us.

"That's where the toilet is," Hayner informed, pointing to the door on our right. "And in there is just an empty room."

But I wasn't paying attention, and neither was Axel, for sat on the beds were Sora and Riku, looking up from their books at the sound of Hayner's voice. My eyes found Sora's, as his did mine, and I gently rested Hayner on one of the chairs before I ran to him and held him still for me to look over.

"You're not hurt, are you? Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Do you have any injuries, any at all?" I was very aware that I sounded insane, or like a mother fretting over her child, but Sora didn't seem to mind. He just beamed up at me and nodded at my every word, allowing me to check him over before he lunged forwards and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.

"I'm fine, Roxas. It's you we should be worrying about." As he pulled back and let go, his smile slipped and I saw the bags under his eyes and the worry that lined them. "How'd you get away?"

I sighed and sat next to him on the bed, pulling my knees to my chest. But I never broke eye contact with him. I felt like I needed reassurance he was there, as if the moment I looked away he would be gone again. He seemed to think the same, because he never looked away either.

"He just kind of let me go, I guess," I replied lamely.

"He?"

I nodded, frowning at my slip-up. "Yeah."

He didn't push. Though we had been separated, he hadn't forgotten that I had my secrets, and I wouldn't let them go. But I saw something flash through his face, as if he wanted to ask me something, but he gave a small glance around at the other three in the room and decided to ask nothing more.

"So then you came looking for us?"

I reluctantly answered, "Yes," not wanting to think about DiZ and everything else. "I came looking for you." I leaned forwards to see Riku, who was glaring daggers at Axel across the room. I cut through the awkward air between them by expressing, "Thanks, Riku, for keeping Sora from getting caught. Thanks for keeping my promise."

He gave a sharp nod with a look that said, 'I didn't do it for you. I did it for him.' But I thanked him all the same. Whether it was done for me was not important, because Sora was here, with me, and not with Vanitas, being made to do the things that I had. I didn't know how Sora would have reacted had he been in my place. He was strong, that I knew from all the times he had helped me with my own problems, even if he hadn't known it himself, but he seemed to me the type of person who would easily blame himself for something that wasn't his fault. Had he really done what I had done, he would never have let it go so easily.

Sora gripped my sleeve and whispered so quietly, almost too quietly for me to hear, "Hey, can I talk to you privately? It's kind of important."

I didn't have a chance to reply before he was pulling me to my feet and back to the basement. Even at my questioning and at Riku's once he saw us leaving, Sora remained silent, as if it took all his energy just to keep this thought in his mind, and all his concentration rested on this. So I stopped asking and followed, curious over what it would be that was filling his mind so much.

But he didn't ask anything, not right away. He paced the basement, stopping sometimes to gape at me, finding that the words wouldn't come out, and then continued to walk around the shelves and the stands that inhabited the room.

So, I decided to break the silence, maybe make his decision easier. "You really shouldn't have tried to get to me, you know. I would have found the way out and found you again, like I have. But if you had been caught, Sora, there would have been no way out."

"Well, you shouldn't have been caught in the first place," he snapped. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, growing more tired as the minutes went by. "Do you have any idea how I felt when Riku came back without you, and said they got you? Or when I had the chance to get you and they held me back? What would you have done in my place?"

But that was different, I argued in my head. It was my life's purpose to be the one to die for him, not the other way around.

"As much of a weird guy you are, Roxas, you're my friend and I will not stand by while you let this happen to you!"

I took a step back, flinching at the pure rage in his voice. I had never heard him so angry, and thought I never would – I had doubted Sora could be the type to get so angry. But as he looked up at me with bloodshot eyes, I realised how much of an idiot I was. He had lost sleep over me, worried for me, hoped that I would come back. And I had seen the relief in his face once he looked up from his book at me only minutes before. While I had been worrying about finding him, he had been worrying about whether I was still alive or not.

"I'm sorry," I admitted. "But I got out as soon as I could."

He gave a weak smile. "Yeah."

"Maybe you should get some rest, Sora. You look tired."

I stepped forwards, reaching my hand out to guide him back to the bunker, but he stepped back and firmly insisted, "No. Not yet. I want to talk to you."

"Maybe not now-"

"Yes, _now_," he interrupted. "I've been waiting for you to come back to ask, and I want the truth this time. No more lies, no more beating around the bush, and no more half-truths. I want to know what they mean."

I shivered as a cold rush ran down my spine. That didn't sound good, not at all. But I didn't let too much emotion show on my face. He had always accepted my reluctance before, so why not now?

"While you were gone, and while Hayner and Riku were asleep, someone came here, and I thought it was you. So I went up to meet them, and it wasn't you," he started. He clenched his hands and gulped back the hesitation, before meeting my eyes with burning strength. "I don't know who it was, and they never answered when I asked for their name, but they told me some interesting things, Roxas, and I have to know if they're true. But I had dreams too, where the ghosts appeared, and they all said the same thing. "

"What things?" I pushed cautiously. This _really_ didn't sound good, and I worried for what it was that he would ask. Out of all the things I kept from him, he could have figured out any single one of them, and each of them worried me. If he found out about DiZ, or what he was to me, or what he would have to do, or what was going on here, then I wouldn't know what to do. In my heart, I hoped with all my strength that it would only be a small thing that was untrue for me to deny and set things straight. But I doubted that, and that sent my heart into a set of panicked thumps.

"Roxas, what are Originals and Nobodies?"

I could feel the colour drain from my face. My body was left with no warmth and my knees buckled. I had never been so scared in my life, and to think it was my own Original that left me like this.

"The person here and the ghosts in my dream spoke of them, saying that I was an Original and you were a Nobody. Roxas, what does that mean?"

"Um…I… Sora," I stuttered, barely able to get a hold of reality any more. Suddenly, I wished that DiZ was alive and here so that I could ask what to do.

"And I want the truth this time. No more trying to get away from it, because I will know if you keep something out."

**A/N:** _This wasn't as long as I hoped it would have been, but I can't drag this out because it just wouldn't be the same. Anyway, what do you think? :) This moment had to come at some point! After all, Sora isn't one to let thing slide, and he has put up with a lot of stuff throughout this. So here it is, and now Roxas has to face it haha. Thank you all!_


	36. Let It Burn

"Sora…"

He shook his head vigorously as his eyes burned. "No, Roxas. No 'Sora' this, or 'can't say' that, or 'but' whatever. I will push this time and I will make you say whatever you're keeping from me."

I clenched my teeth together, feeling my insides twist in confusion. I turned away from him, finding myself tempted to let myself go and tell whatever story he wanted, and I leaned my forehead against the cold wall. I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply, allowing the icy cold to flood through my hot skin.

"Sora…" I repeated awkwardly, flinching at my own pathetic tone, but he said nothing else. He only shifted from foot to foot as he crossed his arms before his chest, his glare still boring into the back of my head, silently waiting.

The story he told me worried me greatly. Who came here and told him what we were? My mind went to Vanitas, but he had been set on capturing Sora. So he was ruled out. I wanted to ask, but with just one glance to him, I knew he would push away any questions I had so that I could answer his. Whoever had told, they hadn't hurt Sora, so maybe it wasn't as big a concern as I wanted it to be.

But then, if the ghosts had also told him – those who had never shown any ill intention – then, maybe, was this a sign? Was it needed, me finally telling him? Was it time?

Was I going to be the first to tell their Nobodies something about this? After all, everyone had been saying things were changing. Maybe this was it. What if this meant that this connection was finally ending – for all of our kind? No one knew how long it had been going on, but maybe this meant it was finishing.

"If you won't tell me, I'll ask Hayner. He's like you, isn't he?"

Before he could walk away, I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "No – I mean, yes, he's like me, but if anyone's going to tell you, it has to be me. Not him. Not anyone else."

Yes, I'd tell him. I was probably looking for an excuse anyway. Every time I came close to telling him before, I had been so tempted to, but it was because I was frightened of his reaction that I stopped. But this was the perfect opportunity. It was better than any I could have made. And I was always looking for an excuse to let the closest person to me know what I was and what he meant to me. It might even help him understand what I felt when he ran off and did whatever he wanted without stopping to think of the consequences.

"If you want to know, I'll tell you. But, Sora, don't interrupt. Even when something doesn't make sense, or seems kind of unbelievable, just wait until I finish. Okay?"

He nodded, the anger fading to be replaced with curiosity and wonder. I just hoped I didn't make the wrong decision.

So I told him. And I found it got so much weight of my chest – weight that I wasn't aware was really there. I started with explanations of what Nobodies and Originals were, saying that he was an Original and I was a Nobody. His face at that point – it was very interesting. A huge grin just planted itself on to his lips, as if he had always known he was something more than others. And when I continued to tell him what that meant, that I had to protect him – that I was _born_ to protect him – a look of complete interest took over. It was like he felt special that he was important enough to have someone connected to him, like he was destined for great things. I had no doubt he was, and I smiled at those bright eyes of his. I told him that that was why I didn't let him do some things, and why I was so careful about where he was and was going.

But then he asked me how I found out what I was, and how I had lived with it, and the happy feeling was gone. I explained that there was no defining moment, and some didn't know what they were until they crossed their Originals. But I found out when I was born. My mother had trouble giving birth, though she lived through it. But one of the student doctors who had been observing the birth instantly felt what I was. She had been following her Original's career path to stay close to him. If we find another Nobody, it's our duty to care for each other, so she decided to tell my parents what I was and what it meant. It was a happy time, she thought, and she guessed my parents would feel the same. But when it came to telling them that I was born to die for some stranger, of course my parents would be angry. So they gave me away.

No parent can go through life after a child has died. But it's even harder when you know that that child was born to die, and you're just waiting around for it to happen. I never blamed my parents because I knew how hard it must have been for them to make that choice. That was why I never went looking for them. I was adopted by a nice family, and I was introduced to other Nobodies in the town I lived in. It wasn't long after my meeting them that I learned they knew the girl who saw my birth, and it wasn't long after that that I learned she died when I was a month old.

I moved away from my adopted family and started a life in the town I lived when I met Sora. I hadn't known why I decided suddenly, but looking back, I realised it must have been because my 'destiny', or whatever it was, said it was time I met him and formed my purpose.

I told him all of this and I watched his face carefully as it crumpled in sadness at my words. I gave a small smile and shook away his sympathy. I never regretted anything that happened in my past, not even losing contact with my adopted family. And I told him this – I made sure he knew that I was fine.

Of course, I didn't tell him about his part in my death in the future. I kept eye contact with him throughout so he didn't think I left something out. It didn't matter how much he pestered me, I would _never_ tell him about that. I never had the temptation to, and I would betray DiZ ten times over again before I would tell Sora about his part.

There was a long moment of silence after I finished, and Sora bit his lip in thought. All the information seemed to be a little too much for him as he swayed on his feet.

"So how does it end? Do you look after me forever?" He gazed at me through squinted eyes.

I nodded, feeling myself smile at his wording. At least this meant I didn't have to tell him all about the ending of our connection. I nodded and agreed, "Until one of us dies." I didn't have to tell him which one would die, or how soon that would be. "Now come on, you need to sleep."

He shook his head and leaned against the wall. "Wait, something doesn't make sense."

I could feel my worry growing and my chest heave with weight once again as it returned.

"So…" he began slowly. "Why are all the other Nobodies young? Why aren't there any older ones?"

Why? Why, why, why did I have to have an Original that looked too closely at things?

"Because the older ones have more experience – they tend to go off with their Originals on their own, rather than stay with the younger and inexperienced ones. The group we're in now – it's more like a training camp than us just staying together." I bit the inside of my cheek, hoping and hoping that he would take that. It was the best I could come up with when I had only seconds to come up with an answer.

He glanced up at me through narrowed eyes, suspicious of my reply, but that grew to confusion as I held his gaze. He couldn't work out if I had lied or not.

It was a little bit of truth. Those who suspected they neared death did leave with their Originals. But they were no older than us, and no more experienced.

"Some of them died, didn't they?"

"Yes. If you're willing to die for your Original, of course you'd go through with it. So, yes, some Nobodies die while protecting." Some? Bah, more like all…

He pushed himself off of the wall and trudged over to me. There was only an inch once he stopped, and his face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my face. I closed my eyes tightly, because this seemed oddly intimidating to me. He raised his hand and pointed his finger to my chest, jabbing it to my flesh.

"_You_," he breathed, his voice low and like a leader giving orders, "are not to risk your life for me. If there's a chance you will die in a fight, you're to turn and run. I'll do the same, I promise you, but don't let this whole 'duty' thing get to your head. If you can live rather than die, you know which one I want you to take." Then he stepped away from me and glared at me with the darkest eyes I had ever seen him wear.

Gulping, I nodded to him. He gave me a massive smile, as if he had achieved something amazing, and walked back to the bunker by himself. I listened as his footsteps faded away in the distance, then fell against the wall.

I never expected Sora to be so scary. But, then again, maybe I should have. I had only told him that I would die for him, so of course he would react that way. I'd have been the same, I was sure of it. I even began to chuckle to myself.

"I have such an interesting friend," I whispered into the cold air.

* * *

I slept for hours that night. It was the best sleep I had ever had, as if the problems that had been keeping me awake were suddenly chased away. But I was woken up by an odd stir in the air.

I sat up and saw Riku, who was keeping watch, walking in through the door.

"Did you feel that?" I mouthed to him.

He nodded and ushered me over, raising a finger to his lips as he nodded in the direction of the three sleeping figures. Together, we walked up the stairs and into the main house. We were met by stale and cold air, but not a single sound met our ears.

"What was that?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but it came from outside, I think."

The air suddenly rippled and pressed against our bodies. A small headache formed in my temples, and I rubbed hard to be rid of it.

"That one was more powerful," Riku huffed and sprinted for the front windows. He cursed as he peered outside into the darkness that was lightly illuminated by the moonlight. "Come and look at this," he called to me.

Grumbling as I held hands to my temples, I trekked over to him and glanced into the darkness. At first, I couldn't see what he meant. All I saw was an empty space of land and tall walls further on. But suddenly, as the air trembled once again, the world outside was lit momentarily. I strained my neck to look up into the sky, and smoke was what I saw – endless dark smoke that covered the sky.

"It's being kept out by the barrier," Riku informed.

"The barrier?"

"It keeps enemies out."

"It can tell the difference?"

Riku rushed to the door, slamming it open, almost throwing it off of its hinges, and plunged into the darkness. "Yes. It let you in, but it'll keep them out."

"Them?" I followed him and looked up at the smoke. Part of the barrier seemed to explode, breaking light into the darkness. I gasped and turned away. As the smoke cleared a little, I saw a black figure, only momentarily shown by the light of the explosion, before they blinked out and the smoke grew in front of my vision once again.

"The group – the ones who control those monsters."

"The Organisation? They're here? They're attacking?"

"They've found us."

Another explosion boomed in on the barrier, and with each hit, I could feel it becoming weaker and weaker. The strength, the safety, that had enveloped this place was suddenly crumpling in on itself.

"There's only one out there!" I cried out. "How are they doing this?"

"That one is strong enough to break through. You wait here, I'll go wake the others." Riku ran back inside.

I watched as the barrier began to fade with each blinding explosion. Each time, I got a glance at the person on the other side, and recognised them immediately. It was the girl that had hidden behind Xigbar – I could tell by her small frame and the frown on her face. She was the one doing this, and I had thought she wasn't worth the worry.

"Who are you?" I wondered aloud to myself.

I glanced to the opening to my left, the entrance Axel and I had come through. That was the only way out, and the barrier didn't extent to the very end of it. If we escaped through there, we would be completely trapped, and it might have been what they wanted.

Once the barrier fell, it might be our only choice. We might have been able to hide in the bunker, and lived off of the water and food there, but once that was gone, then what? Come out and surrender? No. We'd fight before that came.

The ground shook suddenly and I spread my legs to gain the balance that was fleeting. One massive explosion lined the sky, lighting up the area and sending a gush of wind that almost threw me to the floor. I covered my eyes with my arms and held my breath. As the light died away, silence followed and filled the warm air.

I turned my head up and watched as the barrier fell. The smoke began to very slowly fall to the ground and fade around my feet. The lone figure stood in my line of sight, wordlessly watching me from the sky.

**A/N: **_I'm sorry for the late update (or later than I usually do anyway, if only by a day or so)! But we had our last day of school, __**ever**__, and I really needed to give coursework in. And I've got exams coming up (the maths one is going to be interesting…) so I had to start revising for those. Anyway, here it is, at least! :) If it seems a little rushed, that's because it was, and now you know why. But no worries, I'll find time to write further chapters, and it'll provide a nice break from equations… _


	37. Done For

She descended once the fog had cleared. Her feet touched the ground soundlessly, and I readied myself for a fight I was sure was coming. But she didn't make the first move. She stood and stared at me, with no indication of what she would do next. Her mouth gaped open and closed a few times, as if she tried to speak to me but the words wouldn't come out. The first on either side of her clenched and unclenched as she summons all of the courage she could to do what she wanted, but it failed her, and the air grew awkward. From the way the turned her head up to the sky every now and then, time was limited before something would happen. Was she warning me? Or was she playing with me?

My skin trembled as I heard someone laugh above. Another three figures hovered in the sky, and they watched me with sneers on their faces. These were ones I had rarely seen too.

I gasped and glanced around for shelter, but it was too late. They reached the ground and they circled me, drawing closer and closer before I felt my space become so limited that I began to panic just a little. These people – I hadn't seen them fight properly before. They were unpredictable and I knew I didn't have as much of a chance as I would have hoped to. But I stood my ground and glared at each in turn.

"Roxas!"

Through the door of the house came my four friends, Sora first. I had only a second to register what was happening before I threw myself in front of him. The hooded figure closest to him struck out, slamming a fist into my chest as I got in the way. I fell backwards on top of Sora, and we plummeted to the floor. Riku jumped over us and attacked the hooded figure, while Axel attacked another. It had all happened so fast that the enemies hadn't had a chance to prepare. They were caught off guard, and injuries were dealt.

I helped Sora to his feet and pushed him inside with Hayner. "Look after him," I instructed. I pointed at Sora and whispered, "You stay here. I won't let myself get hurt, so you have nothing to fear."

He knew from my voice and my hard eyes that I wouldn't take anything else, and he must have realised that he would just be a bother, because instead of arguing he just gave a small smile and nodded his head.

Before he could have a chance to change his mind, I went to help Riku and Axel. In the back of my mind, I knew that this would be the only time he would listen to what I had to say. Next time, I knew well enough that he would join the fight, despite whatever I said. He just wasn't the type to sit back and watch when there was a difference he could make.

There were to girls and two guys. Riku and Axel had the guys occupied, so I faced the girls, who had their fists at the ready before I even stepped up. I ran straight at them, wondering how I would take them both at the same time, but knowing I would have to do it. Somehow.

They dodged easily, jumping to the side and finding their place behind me. But I hadn't been planning on getting them with that first charge, after all. I quickly spun on the heel of my foot and kicked out, connecting my foot with the knee of one of the girls, tripping her to the floor before she could regain her balance. The other was not caught off guard. She pounced on me, and once again I found myself on the floor, pain rippling through the back of me. She stood over me, the shadows of her hood completely hiding her face. I was sure she must have been smirking at me, but I just couldn't see it.

"Weak," she giggled.

I gave her the coldest smile I could muster, and it must have been good because she flinched and gave a soft gasp. "I'm only just warming up," I snapped. I jumped up, much too quickly for her to recover from, and she stepped back away from me. I pulled the knife out of my pocket – the knife was becoming something trusty now, something I carried around a lot. I gripped it tightly and faced her.

From her pocket, she brought out a small, glimmering yellow ball, small enough to fit into my hand. She bobbed it in the palm of her hand before she threw it only inches away from my feet. As it rolled, it left a burning trail that smoked and bubbled.

With the little bit of face that I could see of her, she gave a sly smile. "I won't miss next time."

I swallowed hard, and glanced at the girl I knew, the one who had broken down the protection of this place as she stood and watched. They were so different. The one I was fighting, she was actually quite scary. The burning ball by my feet was pulled back into her hand as if by a piece of invisible string. Its burning immediately stopped, and her hand was uninjured.

Immediately, I realised the danger. If I gave her a chance to touch me with that, it would burn through my clothes and even my flesh. I didn't really fancy the idea of burning flesh. So I would need to avoid it at all costs. I glanced at the front window beside the door and saw Sora's worried face.

She threw it again, smiling as she did, and the ball sizzled as it was flung through the air. I dived to my side, my heart hammering in my chest. The ball found its way into her hand again, and without a moment's hesitation, she hurled it at me again. I dived again, and repeated this with every throw she gave me, and it lasted for a long while. But I knew I couldn't keep doing this. I would run out of energy at some point, and all she was doing was tossing balls. Once I tripped or fell, she would have the upper hand. So I decided to do something risky to see how the fight would go.

I ran towards her, pushing all of my energy into my feet, and I lunged at her before the ball could reach her hands. It clattered to the floor, creating a sickening smell in the air as it melted through the floor. She raised her hand in an attempt to regain it, but I pushed her to distract her, and threw punches and kicks to occupy her.

I raised my knife to her chest and she gasped, stepping away from the tip of the blade.

"What was that about missing?"

I glanced over to Riku and Axel, seeing that weapons had been drawn on their side too. The one who had Riku occupied had a… I almost couldn't believe my eyes. It was some sort of guitar weapon. It really shouldn't have been a threat, but Riku had been sealed in by walls of water, a power that seemed to be erupting from that strange weapon. The weapon chosen by the enemy fighting Axel was the biggest sword I had ever seen, a thick blade that shone in the light. Axel seemed to be having trouble avoiding it, though he managed to up until now.

At my distraction, the girl before me struck out her hand, her fingers outstretched as they hit my arm. I didn't know what happened, but she seemed to have aimed for something there, because as the tips of her fingers brushed my skin, pain burned its way deep into my flesh. I gasped and clutched at the spreading fire. But, even through the pain, I managed to jump out of the way as she reached for me. I jumped around her, confusing her as she twisted and turned at the speed of my illusion. Then, as her guard slipped and an area of her that she didn't protect appeared, I threw the knife from my hand and it lodged itself in her shoulder. She cried out and pulled it out from the hilt, clenching her teeth and grumbling through the pain.

Now it was on, said the air between us. From the way we both panted and glared at each other, we knew that now was the time to take away our limiters. Now, skill was going to make its way in, and the real winner would show themselves. I had been trained since birth to fight, and from her stances I wasn't sure if it was the same for her. She was skilled, I could see that in her throwing skills. But if she had focused all her efforts on training, she would have hit me long ago and the fight would be over.

From behind me, I could feel the gaze of the shy girl boring into my arm, the place that the fire still burnt in my veins. I thought she would have joined the fight, but she must have been confident enough that one would take me down. She just stood there, watching all three fights going on, as if it meant nothing. But every now and then, I could feel her gaze drift away from us, and watch the figured in the window of the house. What was on her thoughts at the time, I doubted I would have been able to guess.

My knife was thrown at my feet. Its blade dripped the scarlet droplets before they sunk into the floor. I picked it up and watched as they dribbled onto the hilt and mingled with the skin of my hands, slickening my grip. I cleaned the blade a little on my clothes, but it still clung. I pointed the tip to the girl as she ball appeared again in her hand. It was only fair to let it now that I had my own weapon.

There was a small moment of silence before we lessened the space between us again. She held out the ball instead of throwing it this time, and I ran to meet it, holding my own knife in front of me. As we came closer, I leaned a little to the side and attempted to plunge my knife back into her skin. But she dodged and pushed the ball onto the back of my clothes. I heard it as it hissed, burning through the layer of my clothes. I flinched away before it found skin, but I felt the cool air where a circle of cloth had been burnt away on my back.

"Behind you, Roxas!"

I spun at Hayner's warning. The shy girl the one I had thought was only merely watching, was running at me, holding the yellow ball that the other girl must have tossed her while I was distracted with the hole in my back. The girl behind my grabbed me and held me there. She wasn't strong, and I could fight her off easily, but the girl with the ball was much too close for me to do anything now. It skimmed the clothes of my front before it burnt a hole there, and I felt it as it seared my skin. Burning flesh filled the air and I gagged – a reaction from the mix of a scream and a gasp.

The girl screamed as something slammed into her. The ball dropped to the floor once again and the girl behind me let go. On the ground, the shy girl and Sora writhed after he had slammed into her and knocked her from hurting me again. I spun and knocked the girl behind me to the floor and pressed a hand against her wound. She stilled and panted for breath.

"If you move, I'll press harder," I warned. She whimpered as a response.

"What…?"

I turned my head in Sora's direction, fearing the worst after his outburst. He knelt over the girl, the one who had started this fight by destroying our defences. His eyes were the widest I had ever seen them, confusion and fear were clearer than any emotion on his face, and his hands trembled as they seized the material of the hood – the hood that he had brought down from the girl's head.

At first, I didn't recognise her. I should have instantly, but she hadn't been a part of our lives for a while now, not since the day I had taken Sora from school after I had been attacked. She had been there that day, standing by Sora, as she always had been in the time he'd been in school. She was with Riku too, with the both of them in their triangle of a friendship. But when it clicked inside my head, it hurt. Not as much as it did Sora, or as much as it hurt Riku when he turned around and saw her too. He had stopped the fight momentarily and was slowly taking steps towards her, his face almost as exact copy of Sora's. I hadn't really spoken to her before, but it was as if I was looking down at the face of one of my friends as I placed myself in their situation. Kairi was to them like Xion or Axel was to me – a close friend, one they thought would never betray them. The only difference was that Xion and Axel had gone out of their way to find me, showing how much of a friendship we had. Kairi was here, but she wasn't on our side.

She avoided their eyes and stared down at the floor, her red hair shielding her face from us as the hood had once done. From the way she shook, I wondered if tears had sprung to her eyes or if it was just fear of being caught. Even our enemies halted the fight, watching as this scene unfolded. Riku fell to his right knee besides her. He mumbled something, but it didn't reach my ears. He must have been begging why.

"Kairi?" Sora breathed.

I saw as she propped herself onto her elbows and scrunched her hand. Before she could land the punch, I grabbed Sora and pulled him away from her. It narrowly missed, but it was message enough to both Sora and Riku that they had been betrayed. Even Hayner watched from the door entrance, and it must have even been clear to him because he gaped with wide sad eyes.

"You…Kairi? Why?" he sobbed as dry tears cut through him. I clasped my arms around him, half in a hug for comfort, but half to stop him from doing something stupid. In his distraught, I wouldn't put it past him to attack someone and get hurt.

But the enemies beat us to it. As Kairi brought herself up to her feet, the people we had been fighting dragged us to the floor and held us there. The Heartless were called, and we had no hope of getting back up once they descended on us. It occurred to me that they hadn't called on them during the fight then, and I realised it must have been because they were confident they could take us down. They hadn't been surprised at all at Kairi's show, or the reactions from Riku and Sora. It seemed outrageous, but I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe they had planned it – that Vanitas had planned it – so that they had the chance to capture us.

So, had Vanitas been lying about going to find Sora? Had he already found him, and waited here until we arrived, and then planned to attack us to get us all in one go. No, I said to myself. He couldn't' have planned anything like that, not without a guarantee. But I couldn't shake that feeling either.

"Get the one in the house too," one guy demanded the other.

Sora's eyes and mine connected, and I saw the depths of the sorrow from the betrayal there. No tears fell, but his look seemed to be worse than if there had been. It caused my gut to tighten and my own eyes to spring a little water that didn't fall. There was a question there then, as he stared at me, of whether I, or any other friend, would do the same. But that thought seemed to disappear as quickly as it had sprung.

"There must have been a reason," I mouthed to him. "She doesn't exactly look happy about her choice either." That was true. When she had hidden behind Xigbar back at the base, or when she had taken down the barrier, not once did she seem happy or like a true enemy. "Maybe there's a chance she'll come back, Sora."

But he didn't reply. He just gave a small nod, then turned his head away, and I pried no further. Leave him to his own thoughts, I concluded. He needed to be left alone with his feelings. Let him figure them out and pick out what he was going to do on his own. I knew I would have wanted that.

Hayner was thrown besides me as they tied him after they had finished with us. He grimaced at the pain in his ribs, but he gave me a small frown, and I saw his gaze glance towards the girl who wasn't Kairi. Something seemed to suddenly shine in those eyes, and I wondered if it was someone he knew too.

**A/N: **_Sorry for the lateness, again, but exams are cruel with taking up time :/ Two out of the way, and I've got a while before my next, so I'll be able to hopefully fit in another before my next one! Anyway, hoped you like it and thank you so much for reading! There really isn't long now, and I'm going to be so sad once this is finished! Haha. _


	38. Against A Family

We were taken somewhere in the centre of town – they blindfolded us, so all I had in my favour was my sense of direction. Once we were able to see again, we were in a big bare room. I first noticed that we were tied sitting down to a concrete pillar, the foundation of the building. They'd taken my knife, so I only hoped that someone else had something that could get us free. The paint was slowly starting to curl off the walls, and strange stains coloured the corners. From the lack of other buildings by the windows, I guessed we were pretty high up. And this was Vanitas, so he'd have some sort of maze or something set up if we did break free.

We didn't know where we were, there were undoubtedly floors of Organisation members and Heartless beneath us, and we were alone in the room with only Vanitas, who watched us with narrowed eyes and a smirk that sent chills up my spine. I didn't know how thus could get much worse.

But he turned away from me, and I could feel my heart drop as he paced up to Sora. He dropped to one knee and leaned in, watching as Sora flinched away and glanced at me for help.

"You dare, Vanitas…" I let the threat trail off. He could come up with the rest, and I would be more than happy to make whatever he guessed come true. If he wanted to die, I'd make sure it happened.

"I'm just saying hello to him," he tutted, his eyes never leaving Sora's face. "So, Sora, how is life treating you?"

Sora didn't reply, but his helpless gaze changed to an intense glare as he never faltered under Vanitas' prying.

"Oh, that's scary. He's just like you, Roxas – a stubborn guy."

Riku, on my other side, shifted to look across me. "Get away from him," he growled. He tried, with much trouble, to get free from the ropes, but grunted in defeat once he realised there was barely enough for us to move.

Vanitas turned towards Riku, his smirk gone and a look of annoyance filtering in. But Riku returned his glare, and an awkward air filled the room.

"I should have gotten them to kill you," Vanitas sighed, as if it was something he had forgotten on a shopping list. "I can just do it now."

"No!" we all shouted simultaneously.

But he gave me a look, his eyes shining, that told me that he'd ask me to do something to make up for this. I bit my lip in fear, wondering what it would be this time. Would I have to lead another to their death? No. Knowing him, his demands would get bigger as they went on. Who knew what he would ask me to do next time? I looked away from him, flinching as I felt his smug aura.

"Please, let us see Kairi," Sora requested, his voice small.

My breath caught in my throat. I hadn't expected him to want to see her so soon. She had betrayed him, but no doubt he would forgive her. Honestly, I expected a very good reason for her to have done that to him. I was less likely to forgive than he was, I was sure.

Vanitas just furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Kairi who?"

Just then, someone knocked on the door and the girl I had fought against popped her head in. "Sir, they've just arrived at the town border."

"They have? Just in time!"

The happiness in his voice could only mean something bad. I didn't know who _they_ were, but I bet they were going to have an interesting time to come.

"I'll be back in just a while," Vanitas informed us. "Roxas, I'll need to speak to you once I do."

I bowed my head and sighed. Yep, here it was coming. I began to wonder if he was going to ask me to do something with whoever these people were on the border of town. I didn't want to think what that was. Silence met his disappearance out the door as each our minds were in a place of their own.

"Would you get off of me?" Axel hissed.

"Hey, I don't want to be this close to you either," Riku snapped back.

The rope around us began to dig in as Axel and Riku tried to shuffle away from each other. It burned as it cut into my chest, and my calm determination snapped. I turned to Riku, who was closes to me, and exclaimed, "This is not the time for arguing! Have you not realised the situation we're in? Shut up and deal with whatever issues you have with each other another time!"

"Yeah, Riku, why don't you go betray someone else and argue with them instead?" Axel uttered.

"For Hell's sake, Axel, I didn't betray you!"

"Are you joking? Because it's not funny."

"Just stop it!" I tugged on the rope, resulting in a cry from them as it cut into them. It must have hurt, but it finally shut them up, for a little while anyway. They began again soon after, but in low hissed whispers. We decided to let them be, to get it out, and hopefully that would be the end of it.

"Roxas," Hayner whispered.

I leaned over Sora to see the quiet guy, who hadn't mumbled a word since our capture. I could only just see him, but what I saw sent my body cold. The look on his face – it was filled with complete confusion, fear and worry. Without him even telling me, I knew exactly what it was, because I had gone through it once before.

"Who?"

"The girl you fought, the one with that yellow ball," he replied as he glanced down at his lap. His eyes narrowed and he shook his head. "Definitely her. But…"

"How's that going to work?" And I had thought my own situation was bad, but Hayner had it far worse.

"I don't know. What do I do?"

Sora, who had been looking between us like a tennis match, asked me, "What? What's happening?"

"Hayner's found his Original, and it's that girl," I replied.

His eyes widened. "Her? But she's the enemy."

"But… But she felt it too, right?" Hayner began to stutter to himself. "She must have felt the connection too. I knew. She must have known too, right?" He turned to Sora, his eyes wide and gleaming with excitement. "You felt something, didn't you? The first time you met Roxas? What did you feel?"

I was suddenly interested in his reply too. I hadn't once thought about how he had felt, but it had never really been first place in my mind when I had other things to worry about.

Sora shrugged and thought hard back to the day we had met. The crease in his forehead showed, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the determination on his face. He finally answered, "I think I felt something. I waved at him, despite never speaking to him before. And I helped him without even a single bit of thought, so I guess you could say I did. I don't know, it just kind of felt like we were already friends. I don't think it was as strong as him, but I felt _something_, but there's no way to describe it."

I laughed, "So that's why you waved."

"I don't go randomly waving at anyone, you know."

"So, she must have felt like that too," Hayner cut in. "She must have. I saw her hesitation. It must have happened."

Just then, the door opened, and Vanitas strode in, halting the conversation and even the fighting between Axel and Riku. He paid no attention to any of them though, but just immediately came to stand over me with his arms crossed and his eyes boring down at me.

"Get him free," he ordered a near-by man.

The rope was immediately cut, but others, who had come in with Vanitas, waited by my friends, and re-tied it once I stood up. Hayner gasped as it dug into his broken ribs, and Axel tried to fight, but they were quickly stopped and I stood free.

"What do you want with him?" Sora demanded.

But Vanitas waved his hand and pushed me out of the door into the hallway, where endless rows of Heartless loitered. He lay an arm around my shoulders and strolled forwards, pulling me as he went.

"Now, you did well with DiZ, so I must bother you with another request," he chirped.

I gulped, "It's to do with whoever is on the border now, isn't it?"

"Ah, a smart one you are, aren't you? Can you tell me who they are?" When I shook my head, he pushed, "Oh, you do. You just don't want to know. You fellow Nobodies have arrived." He paused for effect as he glimpsed down at me from the corner of his eye. "I'm going to send an army of Heartless to meet them, and a few of my Organisation members. Of course, you're going to join them."

I stopped in my tracks and scowled up at him. "What? I'm not doing that."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I did give you a choice. I'm not making you do anything, so you _can_ say no, but just remember that certain choices have consequences, and you might not like them."

The colour left my face. "Is that a threat?"

He pushed me forwards again, this time more violently. "It's a warning. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to, but if you want this to end happily for you, it's in your best interests to follow what I say. See? Choices, not threats."

"But… they're my own kind," I weakly responded.

"But Sora's more important, right?" I nodded. "Then do what you have to do to make sure he's fine. Nobodies can fight for themselves, but Sora can't."

I could argue with that, but he had a point. Nobodies had been trained to fight. I doubted Sora had had a lesson of fighting in his life. He had never needed to know how. If the worst came to the worst, I was sure he'd be able to pack a punch, but not for long.

"Fine," I gave in. "When?"

Before I knew it, somehow I was already at the front door. I had been sure we hadn't gone down any steps, and yet here we were on the bottom floor already, with the streets before us through the open door, and the buildings taller than we were. I turned to look at Vanitas, who just gave me a one-sided smirk. It was another one of his tricks, just like the doors that appeared and disappeared in his base.

"They're setting off now, so off you go."

He shoved me out through the door and I landed on my hands and knees. I heard the door behind me slam closed, and the lock snapped in place. Before me stood some of the Organisation members, staring down at me, burning their hatred into my face. They turned and started walking down the street without waiting for me to get up.

I found myself following far behind them, not wanting to get any closer as I felt repulsed that I would have to fight on their side, against the people I had grown up with. But maybe they would understand. They had their own Originals, so they would take the same steps I had if they were in my place, right? I was sure, but I was also confused. Maybe they wouldn't have fallen here had they been me. Maybe they would have figured out another way, or never gotten caught up in such a mess. Terra certainly wouldn't have. He was a strong fighter, one that would never back down. He would have won over this.

We arrived at the far side of the town. One of the men in the black goats grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me with him as he jumped on to the top of the roof. In the air there was a certain eerie feeling, as if time was just waiting for something to happen. The floor rumbled as the sound of marching footsteps met our ears, along with dozens of voices shouting battle. We didn't have to wait long before their lines came into view, and my heart hammered as each familiar face came closer. They hadn't seen us yet, but when they did, I would be the magnet to all their questioning stares.

Terra marched before them. I wondered what had pushed them to fight, and the answer dawned on me. With the disappearance of DiZ, they probably blamed the Heartless and their leaders. It was the last straw, and now was their time to fight. They looked ready and willing, with rage surrounding them, and I feared their response once they saw me standing on the wrong side.

**A/N: **_The length of this is kind of short, but I really didn't have time to write any more than this… Anyway, something I was going to explain last time, but forgot, was that with some of the new Organisation members that I've introduced (that weren't there before) will have weapons that I've created for them. For example, the girl with that yellow burning ball thing! But it is also things that were significant to them in the games, so you could probably guess who they are from the weapons. _

_Thank you so much for the response to the last chapter! Honestly, I thought some people would have guessed it was Kairi, but it appears not! Thank you all for reading, and after my next exam (which is tomorrow! DX) I will definitely have enough time to make another chapter, without the long wait. _


	39. Truth Be Told

It wasn't as if one person looked up and saw me there. It didn't spread through the crowd like a wave as they glanced up. No, it was as if they were all one body, because there was no warning before each pair of eyes found us out and I was the one that drew their eyes.

In the face of my enemies, I would be afraid, but I would summon all the courage that I could gather from my body and do everything to face them like I was supposed to. But as I felt the stares, the wide eyes, the gaping faces of all my friends before me, all I wanted to do was cower. No courage was with me then. The only reason I didn't turn and run was because I was rooted in place, with someone on either side of me and behind, ensuring that I never got the chance to disappear. My knees buckled and my mouth was so dry. I was terrified. I didn't want to know what they were thinking about me in that second.

"Roxas?" called a voice weakly from the fray.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I have no idea what it would have been. The words died in my throat and it came out as a small croak. The guy standing next to me laughed at my embarrassment. Whether I was going to apologise, or offer some sort of explanation to them, I didn't know. I closed my mouth again and looked down at my feet in shame.

Silence filled the gap. It threatened to choke me, to crush me under the weight of my actions. It was so protect Sora, and I wouldn't have decided anything different. Even now, face to face with my friends, I would have chosen the same thing. But that didn't mean I didn't regret it. I wished things had turned out differently, but now that it was like this there was nothing else I could do but go through with it.

Once the time came, would I be able to hurt one of my own kind? Fight them, I could do that easily. I had always fought with them in training since I was young. Even in training we often came out with cuts and bruises as we never went easy on one another. It was a given that we should go full out in those fights. But here, now, those fights wouldn't mean the same thing. I was expected to not just hurt one of them, but kill too. That, I was sure I couldn't do. So once again I was stuck in my own confusion. I was sure that they would understand if I explained because those with their own Originals would do the same in my place. But they weren't in my place. And I didn't know what was going on in their heads. What were they going to do?

"Roxas, what are you doing?"

My eyes found the speaker. It wasn't someone I usually spoke to, but someone I had seen often enough back at our homes. She pushed through the crowd and stood by Terra, staring up at me through narrowed eyes. I wasn't sure how she found out my name, but it cut through me and I flinched from her gaze.

"Come down here," demanded another.

I almost laughed at that. What, did they think I found my way up her by accident? I had a role to play here, I wasn't about to join them and put Sora in danger. Finding that words would still not come out, I stared back at the speaker and shook my head slowly.

"Roxas," Terra warned, taking a step forwards, but unable to really do anything more. "Stop being stupid and come down here."

The only words that did seem to bubble up were, "I'm not being stupid." That was it. There was no further explanation, and I didn't know why that was. They should have understood without my words, and I was sure they did. The expressions on their faces told me so, but maybe they were in denial about this because they continued to call out my name.

"That's enough," said the person behind me. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Out from the surfaces of the floors and the walls grew pools of black, growing to form the creatures of the Heartless. They twitched, bobbing their antennae as their yellow round eyes skimmed the scenery. "The fight starts now."

In the blink of an eye, the Heartless pounced at the Nobodies, devouring their numbers in the shadows they created. Battle cries vibrated through the air as metallic slashes were swung into bodies of mist. Before long, the Heartless that had been called were gone and the Nobodies stood panting with a thin sheen of sweat on their foreheads. But those Heartless were only the small ones. It was as if the Organisation members were merely playing with the Nobodies, using up their energy for when they could join themselves.

Bigger Heartless emerged in the places of the smaller ones. The Nobodies had no chance to take a breath before they were pushed into another fight. I longed to be down there with them, to fight by their side and help them, especially once I saw the first blood drop being shed from a slice to the upper-arm. But I had to stay, as was clear by the arm that was thrown before me as I took a step forwards. I stared at the owner of the arm, but his eyes, though hidden under the hood, did not stray from the fight below. A crooked smile coloured his lips, and I felt sick at the bottom of my stomach. He wasn't much taller than me, and for some reason I wondered if he was about the same age, though I knew that wouldn't help me right now.

When it was clear that the Nobodies would not stand down, that they continued to fight with all of their strength as they powered through the Heartless, the owner of the arm turned his head to look at us all.

"Our turn," he said quietly. He dropped his arm and turned his head down towards me. For only a second, I got a glance of his ocean-blue eyes and the blond down-wards spikey hair. "Let's see just how much you care for that Original of yours, shall we?"

He grabbed the back of my top and dragged me down to the ground with him. Being on the same level as the fighting sent a whole new wave of fear through my body. For some reason, it made it so much more real to me. I was then dragged towards the fighting, and I then wished to be anywhere but here.

As we entered the fighting, Terra was the first to find me. He grabbed my arm and gazed into my face. His own was filled with worry and before I had the chance to say anything, he pulled me out and pushed me into one of the closest alleyways.

"What's happening?" he demanded, blocking the way out for me.

"If you don't move out of the way, Terra, I will have to attack you." Not exactly what an enemy would say, but I was desperate. I didn't want to have to end up fighting my friends from a different side. It wasn't like I could pretend that this was just training.

"Where's Sora?"

I rolled my eyes. Out of all the people who would catch up, of course it would be Terra. Right to the point, no hesitation. "They have him. I have to do this."

"I understand," was his short reply.

I froze and stared up at him. He just gave a one-sided smile and clapped a hand on to my shoulder.

"Come at me, then. With no hesitation, just go for it. I can take it."

I shook my head in disbelief as a small smile of my own crept on to my face. My reluctance to fight my friends hadn't gone, but Terra really knew how to make it easier, passing it off as just a game rather than training. The voices and the clattering of the fight echoed through the alley, but they were out of my view, so it felt as if we were alone. Reality seemed to escape me, and it was just a game now.

"Bring it on," I dared, still with a shadow of a smile lingering.

We readied ourselves. We let a second pass before we were engaged in our fight, throwing the best punches we could muster. The fighting didn't last long, but to us, each second ticked by seemed like a minute.

In such a small space, I was the smallest, so I was able to avoid his attacks with ease by jumping away or even sometimes directly over him. He used his strength to block my attacks, pushing me away when I had the upper chance. We didn't use any weapons. I didn't have any when they took my knife away from me, but I was sure Terra had. He could have used it, but he didn't. So it was all based on the skill of our bare hands, and it seemed we were even in our strengths.

There were a few moments where our feet never touched the ground, where we pounced from one wall to the other, attacking each other in the mid-air between, then land back on the opposite wall to start it again. We gave it our all, and once we arrived back on to the floor, our chests heaved for breath and parts of our body were smeared with a little bit of blood where punches had broken some skin. I had a bloody nose, a returned gift after I broke the skin on Terra's eyebrow with a particularly good punch. It didn't spurt much, but there was a good deal on the both of us.

"Haven't let go, have you, Roxas? Still as strong as ever," he commented once we stopped for breath.

"Can't let someone like you beat me," I replied.

There was a pause in his face, a look of confusion as he gazed at me, when he wiped the blood from his brow before it seeped into his eyes. His eyes narrowed, and he declared, "I'll find who's doing this to you, Roxas. I'll make sure they're going to pay."

I flinched, not expecting such a turn so suddenly.

"And I'll find them soon. I'll make sure it's soon."

I gulped away my next opposition because his words suddenly hit me. "Soon?"

He nodded, keeping my gaze as his eyes gave their meaning. "Soon."

I sighed, shaking my head. "When?"

He stood up straight and took a few steps closer as the desire to fight was washed away. "After this and after I find this sick bastard. Once this is all out of the way, I'll be happy and I can finally finish."

"What's its name?"

"Her. My Original is a her." He leaned against the wall and ran a hand through his dark hair. "She's called Aqua. She's at a university in the East at the moment, studying under a sport degree. I wanted to follow her, but she insisted that I should wait here for when she returns. Next time she comes, I'll go through with it, and she will leave back for University without the memory of me." He gave me a sad smile and bowed his head to look at the ground. "Not that she knows that."

I stood opposite him, not sure what to say. Feeling weak and like an idiot, I said, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head and chuckled. "Has to happen, can't do anything about it. Your time will come someday." He said nothing for a moment, but stared down angrily at the floor as if it was its fault for forcing him to be something like this. "That's why I understand what you're doing for Sora, Roxas. You're going further than anyone I know has done, and definitely so much further than I ever have. Don't for one second wonder if you're doing the right thing. You're not the first person to swap sides because something they love is at threat. You're just saving something you care for. It's those who swap for power, or to be on the winning side that makes me sick."

My questions faded out in my head as I listened to his words. It was true that I had expected him to understand, but to hear him tell me, in such words, that really reassured me. People could expect anything from anyone and believe in it, but it was when it was right in front of their faces that their belief seemed worthwhile.

"It's hard to stand up for something even if you don't believe it, but it's harder when it's for something you want," he whispered. He stood up again and faced me, stretching his arms and cracking his neck. "Come on, Roxas. Let's go out with a bang."

"Right."

No more words had a place between us. The fighting concluded, but it was more like a joke. We were reluctant to do any more damage to each other than a few scratches. Before long, other smaller fights found themselves as the mouth of the alley, and I was aware of some of the eyes of the Nobodies watching us fight. To them, I wasn't sure what they saw – whether it was a game as it was, or that I really had gone to the other side and was facing against them. Honestly, I was worried as to which one they saw, but I couldn't set them straight when Organisation members also watched from the top of the alley. If I stepped out of line, maybe they'd go back on their promise and Sora wouldn't be as safe as I hoped.

I realised then that it would be a while before this was finished and I was able to finally join back with the other Nobodies. And by then, there was a chance that Terra might already be dead. So, I decided to confess to something I had done, to get it out of the way in a hope that I wouldn't feel regret later on when I could do nothing about it.

As I neared Terra, I glanced around and saw that no one would be able to hear me. So I leaned in close and whispered, "DiZ is dead, Terra. It was my fault. I send him to his death. I'm sorry, but I had to." I didn't regret it even after I saw his eyes grow the widest I had ever seen them before. His face paled and mine copied its colour.

Just because I didn't regret it didn't mean I was still confident about my choice.

**A/N: **_Honestly, I'm not too sure about this chapter. It just didn't seem… all there? I don't know how to describe it! But I've re-written it so many times in different ways, and this was the best it turned out. And anyway, who can be happy with everything they write, eh? There's less than ten chapters now until the end, so… thank you all for following it this far. I doubt I'd have been finishing it if people hadn't shown an interest, so thank you so much! :D_


	40. Blood And Dust

His eyes – They struck me harder than any words he could have thrown at me after my confession. It was as if all the shine, the friendliness, the calm that had rested there before just shrunk away, replaced with lifeless ice.

I knew his reasons too. It wasn't because it was DiZ, not at all. From what I knew, DiZ meant nothing more than a leader to Terra, and even then he was still a leader that was often away. But it was the fact that I had even turned against our leader that worried him. Though he had been saying that we would do anything for our Originals, he hadn't expected anyone to ever go this far.

"I hadn't expected to go that far, too," I mumbled, not really caring if he heard or not. I bowed my head and clenched my fists. "But it had to be done." I battled with myself, questioning on whether to tell Terra what DiZ really was, what he had been planning for us. But what was the use? He was gone now, so he could do no more damage. Terra wouldn't believe me, and I doubted I could get all the words out. Once Sora and I were finally free from this mess, I wouldn't ever need to return back to the Nobodies I had grown up with. I could take Sora somewhere far away, and I could wait until my end came there. I didn't need to explain myself.

"You…"

I flinched. I tried to determine what kind of voice he held, whether it was filled with disgust or pity. But I hadn't heard enough to decide. His words were suddenly cut off as he was thrown up into the air by a Heartless that leaned on the roof edge.

"Terra!" I exclaimed, watching as he thrashed in the air, caught off guard and unsure what to do.

I hastily climbed up onto the roof, grunting as I went, and reached out for him as he began to fall. He landed with a thud onto me and we crashed onto the floor. Over his shoulder, I saw the Heartless – a bigger one than the others had been and vaguely bird-like – beginning to crawl closer, its talon feet scraping along the concrete beneath.

"Move!" I roared, tossing him off of me. I jumped up and placed myself between them, not a second of resistance in my movements. As it came a little closer, I met its pace, daring it, silently hoping that it would meet me in the middle.

But it didn't. Of course it wouldn't – I had momentarily forgotten that I was supposed to be on this monster's side, and it knew that. It wouldn't attack me, not unless I attacked it first. It was enough to pull be back to this reality of mine, and that Sora depended on my choices here.

"I'll deal with him," I hissed at it. "Go find someone else." But just because it was on my side didn't mean it was going to listen to me. With a faint tilt of its head, almost mocking, it leaped into the air and over me before I could do anything about it. It tumbled into Terra and they both fell back into the mouth of the alley, kicking and clawing as they fell.

I ran to the roof edge, only hoping that Terra had been able to re-place his guard before the attack. An explosion of black smoke told me that he had, and was able to beat the monster as easily as it had thrown him into the air earlier. He glanced up at me, gave me a small hesitant smile before he was then surrounded by more Heartless.

I could only watch helplessly as they drew closer to him, taking small but quick steps. I saw his gulp, his tight fists, the crease in his eyebrows, before they dove at him and engulfed his whole being. I gasped, ready to jump down and save him, when the Heartless were suddenly flung in all directions and off of him. I chuckled and shook my head. I should have known that he wouldn't be so easy to capture. But as I looked at the place he once stood, he was no longer there. Emptiness greeted my gaze, and even the Heartless seemed at a loss in the confusion.

"What are you standing around for? Fight!"

I was grabbed from behind and hurled into the main road, where an ocean of Heartless and Nobodies fought. A man in a black coat landed next to me, and I glared daggers at him. From the smirk he gave me, I knew it had to be no other but Xigbar.

"Come on, then," he cheered at me. "Make it worth your while."

He pushed me into the fighting, and I immediately lost sight of him. I glanced around, shielding my eyes from the black smoke that appeared from nowhere once a Heartless was defeated. Blood clung to the stones of the street, some gleaming, and some already dry. The Nobodies around me all fought with narrowed eyes, sweat gleaming faces, and determination that just seemed to ebb from their very core. Honestly, I felt a little jealous. This was the most of their worries at the moment – they had something so clear to be set on. I had to fight them to save someone I had been born to save.

I raised my fist, unsure on what to do. I could single someone out, someone who could focus their attention on me. That way, it would be honourable, at least. If I had to betray, I'd make it as fair as I could. A boy further from me defeated the last of the Heartless that surrounded him. I kept watch on him, wondering if this would be the one. He wiped away the blood from his chin, panting heavily as he scanned around him. He was looking for another fight.

I stepped towards him, feeling my heart rush in my chest. I hadn't seen this boy before. I wondered if he had been new, introduced in the time that I had been away. He was incredibly confident for someone who was new though.

Before I could reach him though, a small, delicate hand pressed again my chest, stopping me in my tracks. I followed the pale arm until it reached the main body, and I felt myself go cold.

I met angry blue eyes. "What are you doing, Roxas?" Naminé demanded as she let her hand curl in my top, grabbing the material and pulling me closer. Blood dripped from the right side of her head, so clear against her blond hair and pale skin.

"I… Um." In her presence, I was at a loss for wards. It had been so easy to talk to Terra about it, for him to understand without needed many words. But it was in front of Naminé that I felt at my lowest. She was like a perfect friend, and for me to face her from another side, it made me feel completely ashamed of myself, despite my original reasons.

"You come to save us, then disappear. When we finally arrive where the Nobodies were hiding out, you weren't there. We finally meet again, after days of me worrying about you, and you're on _their_ side?" she bellowed.

I winced. I never knew that she could shout so loudly before. I glanced to the boy that I had been ready to fight, only to see that he was gone now. He had probably found another mob of Heartless to destroy without even knowing how close he came to fighting me.

"Naminé, I-"

"Where's Hayner? Where's Sora?" she interrupted. But without my answers, she seemed to understand already. She sighed, but the anger in her face didn't disappear. I wasn't going to have an easy time, as I had with Terra, that I knew.

I looked around for him too, hoping that maybe he had made a reappearance after the little magic trick before. But if he was there, I couldn't see him. He must have been somewhere else, wanting to stay away from me, as far away as he could.

"You're really an idiot," Naminé whispered. "Does Sora know you're doing this?"

I shook my head. "He doesn't know."

She sighed again, biting her cheek in frustration. "It doesn't matter. Come on, you're coming with me." She then began to drag me, keeping a firm grip on my top, never letting go, not even as I fought against her. She wasn't as strong as I was, so wasn't able to drag me any further, but her hand in my top seemed inhuman and I couldn't get her off of it.

"Stop fighting!"

"No!"

"Look, Roxas. We have a plan. We're going to get them free, okay?"

"Terra said something like that too," I uttered through clenched teeth. "I couldn't accept it from him either, Naminé! I have to do this. You don't know what Vanitas is like! And it's not only Sora and Hayner they have. They also have two of my other friends." Well, I couldn't really count Riku as a friend, but I wasn't going to waste time explaining that one.

"We'll save them too."

"Once Vanitas finds out I went against his orders, you won't be able to save them!" Geez, her grip was strong. I clutched at her hand, attempting to pry her fingers from the material at the front, but her vice-like grip was just too much. I wondered how she got so strong. I had been training for longer than here, and yet there was such a difference.

"Look around, Roxas. Don't you see what we're doing?" she said.

I did as she told and looked around. In only minutes, already the number of Heartless had decreased by over half. But I also noticed that some of the men in coats had gone too, and so had over half the Nobodies. Not one body littered the floor, however.

"Where have they gone?" I gasped.

"It's our plan. You didn't think we'd actually fight our way to where they're holding up, did you?" She gave a wicked smile and her angry expression instantly slipped from her features. "We're Nobodies. We figure out ways that can trick them. And what better way to trick them than hiding in plain sight?"

"I don't understand."

"This isn't all the Nobodies. Someone told me that they asked other Nobodies that they could find to help here. There are more attacking from other directions, and they're sneaking their way in. We cause a distraction here, then we go hide with them, luring those in coats with us so we can pick them off. They won't know where we are, and for all they know, half of us are dead," she explained vaguely.

I knew there had to be more. Vanitas wasn't so stupid as to fall for something like that.

"It's all about speed," she continued. "They might not be fooled for long, but in the time that they are, it'll be easy for us to pounce of them. They won't know it's coming."

"That's risky," I argued. "What if they're expecting it?"

"Then we take as many down as we can."

"But you have an Original you have to live for!"

She shrugged her shoulders and attempted to drag me away again, pulling me with all her might. "And I will survive. But right now, I'm going to fight to get _your_ Original back, and to deal with these before they can interfere again."

I grabbed her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction from where she was going. "Fine, but I'm not coming with you! You can do your whole plan, but I'm going to go back with the enemy. I'm not going to take risks that just might kill my Original."

She rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead in defeat. "Alright, but at least show us the way. We have an idea where they might be, but we don't know for sure. We'll follow you from our hiding places once you go back."

I have a soft nod. "Fine with me."

"But until then, you're staying close to me."

* * *

A few hours passed by. I fought with some Nobodies, but it was much like the fight between Terra and I. There were no more injuries than a few cuts and scratches. Maybe a broken bone here on the other person, and a gash on my leg, but otherwise, there was nothing to worry about. I was reluctant to hurt any of them, and it was as far as I could push myself to go. Or maybe it was further than I would have gone, since I could feel the eyes of Xigbar watching me suspiciously. If I was going to convince Vanitas that I did my best on his side, I needed to convince Xigbar first. But in the times that his eyes were away from me as he focused on his own battle, I apologised to the one I was fighting and threw a glance over to Naminé.

As time went by, Nobodies vanished from the battle. No bodies lay on the floor, but they were just suddenly gone. I knew that they had gone into hiding, already making their way to the centre of the town to wait for my lead. Xigbar, now the only one left of the enemy side aside from the Heartless, had noticed the disappearance of his colleagues, and his rage-filled gaze fell on to me.

He rushed over to me, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, and hoisted me up so I was level with him. He spat, "Where are they?"

"I don't know!" I choked back. It wasn't a lie. I didn't know where they were leading his colleagues, but he could probably see a sparkle in my eyes as I answered, because his eye narrowed further and I feared for my life.

"Where are they?" he repeated, coming so close that I could feel the horrid warm breath of his on my face. I closed my eyes and held my breath, scared of what he would do next. But I felt him tense, and I opened them again. In just seconds, the battle area was bare, with only the two of us. The remaining Heartless had been killed, the rest of the people in coats had been led away and all Nobodies had hidden themselves.

I thrashed in his grip, trying to kick at him, but he didn't even turn to glare at me as my foot collided with his stomach. "I told you I don't know."

He placed me on the ground, but didn't release his grip, then proceeded to drag me. He was far, far stronger than Naminé and I found myself unable to fight against him. So, I allowed him to drag me back to the base, smiling to myself as I imagined the other Nobodies watching from the shadows, slowly closing in to the enemy. I could feel no gaze, nor hear one single footstep, but I knew they were there.

Once we arrived, I realised that Xigbar was the only one to return out of his colleagues. He noticed too, and glanced around, for the first time, with a little fear in his eyes. We reached the top, and Vanitas, Hayner's Original, Kairi and only one other man in a black coat waited there, leaning against the walls in silence. They glanced up as the door opened, and I saw something flash in Vanitas' gaze. But that wasn't what caught my attention.

I fought off Xigbar and thundered at Vanitas, "Where is Sora?!"

But he didn't even look at me. His eyes were glued to Xigbar, and his usual manic smirk wasn't there. It was only a thin line, one that showed great annoyance, like a little kid who was being asked to do something they didn't want to do. But beneath that, I saw that anger raged.

"Where are the others?" he asked Xigbar.

I heard Xigbar stumble backwards, pinned by the force of the glare directed his way. "I… I don't know. They just…vanished."

"People don't just vanish."

Xigbar didn't reply and silence settled in. If I hadn't been so angry over the space of where Sora should have been, I would have cowered under the thunderous air. I turned to look at Riku, who nodded his head at Vanitas and mouthed, "He took him somewhere as soon as you left."

Vanitas took in a deep breath and pushed himself from the wall. "I thought it was going to be an easy job for you, Xigbar." His deep and slow voice filled the room, threatening and tense. "But you come back with nothing?"

"Sir… S-Sir!" he attempted to excuse himself, but all that came out of his mouth were mutters of a plea.

Vanitas turned his gaze onto me, and I returned it with my own glare. "I took Sora away just in case you would refuse to do my little favours. I'll take you to where I'm holding him if you do something for me."

I knew what was coming, and I didn't need to be told twice to do it. Even if he hadn't taken Sora away, I would have done it. I turned to look over my shoulder at the trembling Xigbar, and I gave a side-smile. I could at least vent my frustrations on him.

"Xigbar, you failed me. Not only are the others missing, but I'm not sure if they're even alive, and not to mention that many of my Heartless were killed." Vanitas stood beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder, much like a master would place their hand on their dog's head. I hated the thought of being this man's dog, but I had to admit that I looked forwards to what he would say next. "Now, how am I supposed to punish you?"

In one last attempt to save himself, Xigbar stood tall and said in the strongest voice he could muster, "If you do anything to me, you'll have one less organisation member. If the others are dead, you'll need me."

"I'll find more. Roxas, kill him."

With pleasure, after all the times he humiliated me in school and for Sora. I cracked my knuckles to add to the tension as I glared at him, and I saw just a small flinch pierce his form.

**A/N: **_Hey! So here's another update! Oh, and sorry to anyone who is either waiting for a reply in PM, or have received a late reply. My internet is terrible at the moment, and won't be better for a while I think. :/ So just be patient and I'll definitely reply! Don't worry :) Again, thank you all for reading! Let me know what you think. _


	41. Waking Up

I vaguely felt something slip into my hand as Vanitas gave me back my knife. I gripped the hilt tightly as a sign of my small thanks, then stepped closer to the retreating Xigbar.

Something in the back of my mind struggled with me, reminding me that this was a fellow student, someone I had seen passing my in the halls so many times a day. I was already responsible for DiZ's death. Could I stand to have more blood staining my hands? Sure, I had hated them both, and I'd do anything for Sora. But a life was a life, and taking it was a big issue.

But that part of me struggled weakly and before I became fully aware of it, it had already been pushed under the rug and vanished. Now all my hatred for the guy welled up inside of me as I lifted the knife into the air, looked him straight in the eyes and cornered him. He tried desperately to not let his fear show, but I could see his eyes blaze with it as I came closer.

"Roxas…" he said quietly.

I had hoped that he would beg, a sign that a sort of evil side of mine was coming out. But he didn't. He didn't beg, he didn't whimper, he didn't even tear up. There was just the fear, and nothing more. That shouldn't have bothered me. I was instructed to kill him, and I was getting more enjoyment out of it than I should have. But I hated him. I had longed for the day to see him humiliated, just as he had done to me. And now that the opportunity was here and he wasn't acting as I had hoped, I felt a little disappointed.

He didn't even fight back.

I drove the knife down, and it penetrated clean into his chest. At first, nothing seemed to happen. We both stared as the blade easily cut through his flesh. Then the blood began to pour, and his face twisted in pain before he crashed to the flood like a rag doll, my knife still lodged in his chest.

I flexed my fingers, as if the feel of my empty hand worried me. We waited until he breathed his last breath, easily audible in the quiet room. As he died, Vanitas shifted and sighed, as if this was just too much of a bother to him. As always, it weighed heavier on my shoulders than it could ever do for him.

"Well, now that that's over…" he interrupted the awkward air.

I turned as he roughly clapped his hands together and gave me a wide grin. I flinched as I saw the looks on Hayner, Riku and Axel's faces. I turned away from them, though I hadn't glanced long enough to see if their looks were judgmental, filled with hatred, fear or disappointment. I didn't think I could stand it if they looked at me like that.

"Come on, then, Roxas, I'll show you where Sora is." He crushed my shoulder in a vice-like grip and I gasped a sharp breath. He didn't even acknowledge my response. "I hadn't expected you back from battle so quickly."

"They didn't need me," I replied as he pulled me through the building, down the stairs and out through the main door.

"I'm sure they didn't." He glanced around, as if looking for someone, and I was suddenly aware of his tense form and the speed that he dragged me along with him. "Now, there's one more thing that I know I want you to do."

"What is it?"

He looked over his shoulder at me, the lights dancing in his eyes as he smirked at me and answered, "I'll tell you after you see Sora."

A chill ran through me as those words hit my ears.

We arrived at the woods at the edge of town. I realised that we seemed to be here a lot now, as if there was some sort of pull that wouldn't let us go. But there were many strange things in this town. It didn't surprise me that there might be something odd with the trees too.

Vanitas let go of my shoulder and stood before me, allowing a small lock of his hair to cover half his face as he stared coldly at me. The light of the sun began to disappear, its rays vanishing behind the dusky horizon. A dark blue covered the starless sky. With a loud gasp, I realised there was something about this I recognised, and my heart began to hammer louder than it had ever done before.

I couldn't keep the fear from showing on my face.

It was almost exactly the same as it had been before, but this time Vanitas was before me, not just some voice in the trees. This was just like the dream I had had months ago. It had felt like years ago, and I might have forgotten it until now. But here it was, in reality, and I knew what was coming.

"What have you done to him?" I whispered, feeling my knees buckle.

He tilted his head to the side and in a flash of an instant, he ripped the knife from my hands. I gasped and reached for it, realising that there had been another part of the dream that was missing now. My wounds. As if reading my mind, he smirked and lunged forwards, pushing the blade into the skin of my left arm, making me cry out in pain. I clutched at it, mouth wide open in shock, a question clear in my expression.

"Just had to make it clear to you," he commented.

"Make what clear?" I shouted at him, watching as the blood flowed from the wound, dripping on to the floor.

"If I can hurt you, so can he. If I can turn you to my side, so can he. Don't forget who you owe." He turned the blade in his hands, watching it gleam in the moonlight as my crimson blood soaked the edges.

"He?" Curiosity crossed my mind, but I shook my head and focused on the most important thing. "Doesn't matter. Where's Sora? What have you done with him?"

"He started to get quite annoying, constantly asking about you and demanding that I leave you alone. He even had the courage to attack me."

Stupid, stupid Sora! I clenched my jaw together and tried my best not to do something stupid.

"I got bored waiting, honestly. I had even been thinking of killing him." He raised an eye brow as he saw my face change from fear to rage. He even chuckled. "I didn't, of course. He's a good piece to have. Getting rid of him would be a major setback. But that could change."

It was true that it would be a big disadvantage if he killed Sora. He wouldn't have his hold over me. But in the end, what did I amount to? He had gotten on fine without me before. I was sure he had made other plans for if something hadn't gone the way it was supposed to. So, was this a bluff, or was he really intending to be rid of Sora?

He pocketed my knife and raised his arms as he began to retreat into the cover of the trees. "If you want him alive, then come get him," he whispered.

He vanished into the shadows, and I was left alone, with a bleeding arm and the worry for Sora. I shook all over, from rage and from fear. It was true, this was a nightmare come true. But I knew that there was something different – in my dream, I had been reluctant. Maybe that had been because I wasn't as determined as I had been. I hadn't known Sora, my Original, for long at all. But know I had. We had been through so much, and my reluctance was non-existent.

"I've given you everything you wanted" I cried out into the darkness, where he had retreated in to. "Please, let him go!"

In my dream, I had been filled with fear, scared of a death that could be hiding between those trees. But my voice was filled with strength now, and I would not hold back. Manic laughter met my call, and anger bubbled inside me.

Even knowing that Sora's pool of blood would be what would welcome me, no reluctance came. I ran into the trees, my teeth bared, my fists clenched, my mind set on one thing and one thing only – to save my friend. No amount of Heartless could drag me away.

As had happened in my dream, I halted in my speed and flinched as I saw the blood as it seeped into the grass. There really wasn't that much, but it was enough to send my knees buckling. Sora lay in the middle, his face twisted in pain, his good right hand gripping at the sleeve of the other arm where a deep cut had been made. He glanced at me through narrowed eyes, attempted to say something, but groaned as the pain got to him. He looked away.

Right behind him stood Vanitas, who was looking around as if the sight was simply a bore to him.

I ran to Sora's side. But I really didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't medically trained. I knew how to look after my own wounds, but when there was someone else lying there, barely conscious, I didn't know what to do. From what I could see, though, the wounds didn't look life-threatening. It was just all the blood. I tugged off my top, revealing the undershirt that I always wore, and ripped it up into strips, tying the worst of his wounds. He struggled to remain awake, and I lightly slapped his cheek to keep him from falling asleep.

"He's fine," Vanitas assured, waving his hand and sighing. "I could have done far worse. He won't die."

I glared up at him, wanting so much just to attack him right now. I had before, I could have done now, but Sora was here. He could kill him just to get to me, and Sora wasn't able to fight back now as it was. So I swallowed whatever I was going to say and controlled myself, willing all my hatred into the glare I was giving him. I silently hoped that he would just drop dead right there, but of course that didn't happen.

"There's one last thing I want you to do," he continued.

"One last thing?" I repeated.

He nodded and rolled his eyes. "Yes, one last thing." He sat down on a tree stump and rested his chin in the palm of his hand and leaned his elbow on his knee. "I would have told you to do it sooner, but it's later than I expected for him to contact me."

I lifted Sora up, slapping him on the cheek again as I saw his eyes drift off. He grumbled something, and shifted in my hold. But his eyes were more open now, and he wouldn't look away from my face. My top half was covered in his blood now, though the flow had been reduced .

"I want you to kill someone for me."

I refrained from biting at him. What was I, some sort of assassin? But I wasn't in any place to question. "Who this time?"

He chuckled. "Oh, it's no one you know, so you don't need to worry about that."

Just get to the point, I thought to myself.

He got up and waved his arms in the direction of the town, a smile on his face. "This was all for him. I was ready for his arrival, and he kept me waiting. But he's here now. Finally." He turned to me, his smile gone. "But I won't be the one to welcome him here. I can't face him. I want to be the one to kill him, see his face as I defeat him, but he always has a way of making me falter. He would always be the one to humiliate me. I'd give the privilege of his defeat to someone else if it meant his death."

Satisfied that Sora was alright now, I lay him back on to the floor and lay the remaining scrap that was my top on him. He gave me a weak smile, and I saw a little of his colour come back.

"So you're sending me."

He gave a small nod. "He's powerful. I doubt you'd be able to beat him, but you have to if you want Sora to survive."

"How am I supposed to find him?"

"I instructed my Heartless to let him into the town – he would have easily gotten in by himself, but I wanted to make it clear that I was expecting him." He got up and walked to me, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a note that had been torn and scrunched up so many times that I wondered how he knew what it said anymore. "I arranged to meet him at the eastern border. You better hurry, though, the meeting is in four hours."

I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Four hours? I can get there easily in that time."

"He's always early. Probably already there. Time doesn't actually mean anything to us," Vanitas explained, pocketing the note once again. "Don't want to keep him waiting, do you?"

I cast a worried look to Sora, who was quietly watching the scene, his eyes drifting from me to Vanitas. I knew he would have had something to say had he been able to speak.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of him. If you come back here with that guy's head, then I can guarantee Sora's safety. Sound fair?"

I could see Sora shake his head, but I ignored him. Had he more strength, I knew he would have probably thrown me to the floor and stopped me any way he could. "Fine. But no tricks to this. When I come back here, I expect him to be alive, and no worse off than he is now. Don't touch him. Don't do anything to him."

He raised his hands mockingly. "Hey, I wasn't going to do anything to him! Honestly!" he laughed, a sparkle in his eyes as he said it. "I promise that I won't do anything to him. Happy?"

I stood up reluctantly.

"Oh, and he answers to the name 'Ventus', by the way. That's how you know it's him and not someone else – not that he'd send someone else anyway." He then gave me a wave, a not-so-subtle sign that I should be on my way.

I bent down and whispered to Sora, "I'll be right back. Just hang in there, and then I'll take you to a hospital, or a doctor, or whatever there is, okay? Are you alright?"

He gave a frail nod, but his smile had more strength than it had done before. I watched as he began to flex his fingers, move his hand, and realised that it wouldn't be long before he could even sit himself up. I don't know what he was planning with this small triumph, but if he did anything stupid while I was gone, I was going to tie him up and lock him away somewhere for the rest of my days. At least then I wouldn't have to continue to worry for his life.

I clapped my hand on his shoulder, then walked away from them, aware of both of their stares on the back of my head. As I made my way to the eastern border, I wondered how the Nobodies' plan was working out. Had they attacked yet? Were my friends free now? It was less guarded now, so I couldn't see why they might not have attacked yet. Maybe they were taking over as I spoke. But I couldn't see the centre from here, nor was I there to witness it. Vanitas had taken me away before the plan had come into being, and I wondered then if Vanitas might have known it was coming. Why else would he have taken Sora to the woods, where no one else was, instead of doing what he had done to him in front of the others?

I shook my head and grumbled to myself. Maybe I was looking into it too much. Vanitas wasn't one that followed the rules, nor did he do as others did. He was unpredictable. Who knew? Maybe he had taken Sora out here simply for a change of scenery. I knew I would have gotten bored being cooped up in a lifeless building like that and waiting around to see what was going to come next. He had said he was bored.

Before I even knew it, I had arrived at the other side. I looked up. From the windows of the scattered houses I saw small faces peering out at me. The locals who had hidden away as soon as the first sign of a battle had come about still dared not venture out yet, even once the battle was over. Those at the borders, such as these, were a lot safer, but even they weren't so reckless as to come out yet, not even to see.

I gave those I could see a small smile, and they threw the curtains over the windows, hiding once again. I must have scared them.

It didn't take me long to see who I was looking for. He leant against the wall of one of the buildings, looking at a piece of paper in his hands, much like the note that Vanitas had had. What first caught my attention wasn't that his behaviour was completely different from the locals – because I had expected that – but how young he was. He was the same age as Vanitas, whatever age that was. Honestly, I might have been expecting an older man, maybe, one that could rival Vanitas. It caught me off guard.

But that soon was replaced by another weird attribute as he turned his face to look at me. It was like I was looking at a reflection of myself, when there was no mirror there. Even he looked shocked, and I wondered if this was the true reason that Vanitas had sent me.

**A/N: **_The dream that is talked about in this, just in case it might have been forgotten, is at the start of Chapter four. I've had this bit planned for a while, and knew that the dream would differ from reality once it reached this point, but it still worked out better than I had expected! Haha. Anyway, so I know that it has been asked when Ventus was going to come in, so here he is! I thought he would be in it a lot sooner than this, but it didn't feel right until now. Sorry for the long delay in a new chapter though. Internet here has been terrible, and I was away for a few days to boot! Here it is, and I hope you all enjoyed! Sorry for any mistakes. :)_


	42. Going Down

He flinched, as did I, and I stepped back a little. He reached out his arm, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping.

"No, please, don't run. Wait," he called.

I flinched again. Even his voice sounded similar… I shook my head, throwing the thought from my mind. It would only distract me. Any other time, I would have run. I could stand and face and enemy, easily, as I had been trained to do. But this was just too strange. I could have run, and, as I said, I would have – if the situation wasn't like it was. I had Sora – battered and bloody Sora – waiting for me, waiting for this guy's head, and I would do what I could to make sure Sora never went through what he had again. So, pushing every little bit of strength in to my legs, and blocking all distractions from my head, I walked towards him with my head held high and looking him straight in the eyes.

"Ventus?" I asked. The name just rolled off of my tongue, as if I was actually quite glad that at least the name wasn't similar to mine. That was something.

He blinked, gulped and nodded to me. His shoulders tensed and he narrowed his eyes a little. "Yes." With a pause, he glanced over me, but his expression cleared. "And you are?"

"Roxas," I gave. I could see his shine, and I had no doubt he had thought the same as I had when I spoke his name. Had our names been similar, I don't know what we would have done. It would have been too much of a distraction, and our thin grip on our real purpose would have slipped completely.

He crossed his arms, crumpling the piece of paper in his clenched hand. "Vanitas sent you." It wasn't a question, and his voice was filled with such certainty.

I wasn't sure if Vanitas had planned for me to trick this guy, to pretend I wasn't made to do this by him, but there was no use in denying it. I just nodded, my jaw clenching. To him, I must have been seen as an enemy. But he didn't know my situation, and he didn't know what I was fighting for.

"Why?" he asked quietly. "You do realise he's just using you, don't you? He does that to everyone. Do you believe in him, or what?"

There was bitterness in his voice, and I knew there must have been some sort of story behind it. I guessed as much when Vanitas sent me here, by what he said. True hatred, but just a little bit of fear laced there too. I shook my head, and replied. "No, I don't. I hate him."

"Then why do what he tells you?"

"None of your business." I was already upset upon seeing Sora hurt. I didn't want to explain to a stranger and have to relive that. I couldn't break down now.

He shrugged it away, but I knew he would not let it go. He seemed too familiar with Vanitas' ways, and I became more curious of their story. But I kept my mouth shut.

He turned to lean against the wall again and gazed down at the ground. "I know exactly what Vanitas can be like. Believe me, I've been on the receiving end of his manipulation so many times." He glanced up at me, his hair falling into his eyes as he turned. "Let me guess. He's blackmailing you?"

I didn't have to say anything, because he read it all from my sad expression. He gave a nod.

"See, it's the only way he knows how to get people on his side and keep them there," he continued. "It's just how he was brought up."

"I don't care how he was brought up," I snapped. "He's like that now and there's no excuse for it." My anger was clear, as Sora's form flashed in front of my eyes. I wasn't even upset that my purpose was almost taken away. Sure, that was important, as it was to every Nobody. But that wasn't what struck me when I saw Sora in pain. I didn't care for my purpose then. I didn't care that I almost lost out on my mission. I cared for Sora himself, because he was my friend, and I wouldn't let him die. Because he was my friend, not because he was something I should just keep alive.

My thoughts snapped to Kairi then. After what he had said, I wondered if the Organisation members had also been held by his side through blackmail. Some, such as Saix and Xigbar, I doubted. But ones like Kairi, who didn't seem to fit in. Had Vanitas gotten to her, blackmailed her into staying? Was the blackmail strong enough for her to go against her friends even as they figured her secret out? Maybe Vanitas had told her he'd hurt her friends. That seemed to be what he liked to use. Had she really been strong enough for Vanitas to seek her out and keep her on his side?

"You're right," Ventus agreed. "He has no excuse for what he has become. But you must know someone's history before you judge them too harshly."

I sighed and shook my head. "No! He's done what he's done, and that's right now. Knowing what happened before will never gain sympathy from me."

"That's not what I'm saying-"

"I don't care! Look, he's sent my here to kill you and bring back your head. If you understand him, then you should know that I can't get out of this." I understood what Vanitas had meant when he said Ventus was able to get into your head with his words. If he could make Vanitas falter, no wonder he had gotten to me so easily. He made me almost forget what I was supposed to do.

"I thought that was what you were sent to do. I knew the moment we made this meeting that he wouldn't come himself. But I'm surprised he sent you."

I narrowed my eyes. "What's the supposed to mean?"

I held up his hands. "I didn't mean much by it, just that he'd send someone more scary-looking. No offence, but you don't exactly look threatening."

I clenched my fists and glared daggers at him, hatred filling me. "I don't need to look threatening to beat you!"

He placed the palm of his hand on to his forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. Vanitas has always been one for dramatics and power. I thought he'd sent someone who just had massive muscles and cheesy punch lines. You know, the stereotypical thugs sent by the main boss."

I relaxed a little, dropping my fists and tilting my head to the side. "Oh," I muttered. "Yeah."

"I'm a little happy you're not though, because at least I can have a decent conversation."

He smiled at me, and I found myself smiling slightly back, my anger suddenly ebbing away. I knew Vanitas' fear of Ventus then. Ventus seemed to be able to turn the feelings inside you in a complete whirl, from one extreme to the next so quickly that you didn't know where you were from one minute to the next. Maybe this was also why he hated him. Vanitas, who relied on dirty tactics, didn't seem able to get Ventus on his side, and instead the manipulation was turned against him. It was his weakness, and he wanted to be rid of it.

Honestly, I wished I was like that. I wished I could make Vanitas fear me, that I could resist his blackmail and get out of it with Sora. But I was a victim to his manipulation, and I was already too far into it to turn back now. I was a little jealous of Ventus for that.

"Vanitas has been through a lot, you know," he whispered. "His father was a lunatic really, pushing his own views on to him, bringing him up to be another version of him. When his father died, he was at a loss, with an ideal in his mind, placed by his father, that the group of people he had died for and belonged to were rats and needed to be wiped out. He's hated the Originals for killing his father, and he's hated the Nobodies for doing nothing about it, for not fighting back." He paused for a minute, biting his lip and watching my reaction, and asked, "Which one are you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What? What makes you think…"

"You weren't acting confused when I said 'Nobodies' and 'Originals', like you knew. Either you're an ordinary person who has had the misfortune to find out about them, which is rare, or you have even more misfortune by being one of them." He gave me a sympathetic smile, and repeated, "Which one are you?"

With reluctance, I answered, "I'm a Nobody."

He nodded. "He has your Original, doesn't he?"

I could feel sadness well up. I took a deep breath and demanded, "Which one are you then?" With realisation suddenly hitting me like a hammer, I gasped, "Don't tell me Vanitas is one too."

Ventus laughed and shook his head. "No. Both Vanitas and I are ordinary people who just learned about you."

I rolled my eyes at his use of 'ordinary'. It was true, but it still hurt. "How'd you find out then?"

"Vanitas had his father telling him all about it throughout his life, since his birth. I, on the other hand, found out accidentally. I overheard his father and my guardian talking about it. I found out accidentally, so I confronted them and they told me everything, including that Vanitas' father would soon die. Vanitas knew that too, but his actual death hit him hard."

I turned to lean against the wall too, watching as he drifted off to wherever he was to remember this. Something nagged at the back of my mind, but I waited for him to finish before I let it come to me.

"See, my guardian was actually an Original, whereas Vanitas' father was a Nobody. Both hated what they were, and they wanted it to end. My guardian had gone through his purpose, but he remembered killing his Nobody, and he didn't want anyone to go through what he did."

"DiZ."

He glanced up at me, confusion clear on his face. "Yes," he uttered, nodding slightly. "How did you know his name?"

"I met him. He was kind of the leader of this group of Nobodies I was in," I replied awkwardly.

He gave a small smile. "When I was small, I never would have thought he'd been on their side, not after the stuff I'd hear him and Vanitas' father say."

I remembered then what was nagging at my mind. He was the one who betrayed Vanitas, the one that DiZ took away the day he betrayed Vanitas' father and went against everything they stood for. He was the one Vanitas and DiZ were talking about the night I brought DiZ to him. Ventus was the person he hated more than he had hated DiZ.

"DiZ and I thought that Vanitas and his father got to be too much, taking their hatred to extreme measures and we knew that they wouldn't see reason. So we destroyed their findings and we ran. But we were separated when we were chased, and I haven't seen DiZ since."

My chest tightened and I said so quietly that I was surprised he even heard me, "DiZ is dead. I'm sorry."

But he just nodded. "Yeah, I thought as much. Vanitas wouldn't let us go so easily, especially not now that he's been able to rise again."

I opened my mouth, ready to say that it was my fault, just as I had told Terra. But my words caught in my throat, and I couldn't let them out. I closed my mouth and swallowed them away.

"I'm sorry," I repeated. But he didn't get my meaning. To him, I was just showing him sympathy for his loss.

As I had thought earlier, knowing Vanitas' past did nothing for me. I didn't feel any different. I knew that being pushed by his father must have been harsh, but he had done things to me that I knew I could never forgive. He had hurt Sora. Forgiveness was far beyond my reach at this point.

"Why did you agree to meet up with Vanitas then?" I questioned. "If you knew he was going to send someone else, that he wanted you dead, why did you come to find him? Even knowing that DiZ is dead now."

He shrugged but gave a smirk. "I've come to try and stop him. But, honestly, I have also come to annoy him and fight with him a little. We've known each other for a very long time, since we were children, and I have missed him. He may be the enemy, but I like being able to humiliate him when no one else can. He's like a little brother to me, despite being only a few months younger than me. However, when the time comes, I'll have the determination to kill him and end this before he can kill me."

He gave me a meaningful look. Without saying anything, I knew what that meant. He'd give everything he had to fight against me. If I attacked him now, he'd fight back with no hesitation. He had a purpose, as did I. It was to see which purpose was stronger, and for the first time, I wondered if mine would win.

"So what are you going to do?" Ventus asked, staring right at me with a grin. "Are you going to waste time and lose against me, or are you going to cooperate with me and help me take him down?"

"But-"

"Don't worry, I assure you that your Original will be alright if you choose to help."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "How?"

He closed the distance that had been there since the start of our talk and placed his arms around my shoulders, drawing me near to him so that he could whisper mischievously, "I have a plan. Vanitas might see through it, but he won't have time to act on it."

"Huh?"

He laughed. "He probably already thinks that I'll strike a bargain with you since he asked for proof with my head. But you don't have to bring that. As long as you look the part, a few seconds will do as a distraction."

I gaped, "I don't know what you mean."

"Don't worry, it'll become clear."

* * *

I made my way back to the woods, covered in cuts, bruises and blood. I limped a little, pain rippling through my knee from a harsh blow to the bone. I reached where Vanitas and Sora waited.

Sora sat resting against a tree, one eye open to watch me as I entered from the shadows of the trees. Vanitas stood beside him, watching me with suspicion as he glanced up at me. Already he seemed to see through me, as if he had listened in on the plan hatched by Ventus and I. But I kept up the act, hoping it was just his natural distrust.

"Where is his head?" he asked, drawing out the question as he looked over me.

I shrugged. "His body fell into a river." Ventus had told me a river flowed not far from where we had been standing, and Vanitas would know that. It was supposed to convince him a little more, or distract him from the reality for a while, but his eyes narrowed further. He didn't believe me, and I worried as he looked down at helpless Sora.

"Then why didn't you go after it?"

I glanced down at myself and then back up at him. "In this state? I was lucky to be able to come back here."

"You… _You_ were able to kill _him_?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yep," I replied calmly.

"Bullshit," he accused immediately.

His eyes widened as he heard a rustle from above, too loud to be left to the breeze. He crossed his arms in front of him, just in time to deflect Ventus' attack. He gasped as he crashed to the floor, Ventus standing on top of him, blood seeping from his palms.

Vanitas looked from his palms to the blood on me, immediately understanding that the red on my clothes was a mix of my blood and his blood, taken out my a small slice to his palm and my arms and legs – big enough to draw blood and small enough to not hurt terribly or cause problems. In Ventus' hand was a knife, one he had brought for the confrontation. It was now that Vanitas realised what had happened.

His eyes strayed to Sora, but Ventus pushed him down, pinning him to the ground before he could even think to get to Sora.

I ran to Sora, still feeling the pain in my knee, but barely. To make it believable, Ventus had kicked me there, and bruised me. It was worth it to see this now.

I ran to Sora, gently placing him on my back. He bit his lip and tried his best not to cry out from the pain. I patted his arm and whispered to him reassuring words.

"You go, Roxas! Take Sora out of here and go somewhere safe!" Ventus shouted over his shoulder as he held the knife to Vanitas' throat.

He knew, just as well as I did, that Vanitas would fight back, and his hold he had on him now was only temporarily. Once Vanitas had full control over his situation, once he realised it, he would not be caught off guard again.

As if awakened by my thoughts, he growled and threw Ventus off of him with such a force that Ventus crashed into a tree. I turned to run, fearing that Vanitas would come after me, but his eyes were on Ventus, his whole concentration set on his old friend now. We might not have existed any more to him.

Ventus got up and wiped the blood from his palms on to his trousers, then smiled at Vanitas. "It's been awhile, friend," he greeted, holding his knife before him. "How cowardly of you not to face me. Come, let's end this, finally."

"Traitor!" Vanitas howled.

They ran forwards and collided with such power that a wave of air washed by me. From the ground came a black pool, giving birth to the countless Heartless that came to their master's aid.

I gulped, casting one last look towards Ventus and Vanitas, before I turned and ran for the town again, already knowing where it was that I was going to take Sora. The town may have been big, but I had not once come across a hospital, and I had no time to search for one now, not when Sora clung to me in pain. I thought of my other friends, but that was a small matter at the moment, and I set my course for Leon's and Yuffie's. They might not have been doctors, but they were my best bet at the moment. Maybe they knew a doctor.

As I neared their house, I heard the biggest crash I had ever heard before. Behind me, light erupted from the forest, like a small explosion, and another wave of warm air was sent ripping through the town.

"Is it over?" Sora croaked.

I waved the trees and saw two figures jump into the sky, colliding together, fighting at such a speed that I was almost unable to keep up with it. With a sigh, I answered, "No, it's not." And I knew it wasn't going to be over for a while.

**A/N: **_This was a hard chapter to write! Not that I had writer's block, but it just didn't seem to flow like I wanted it to. But I'm still happy with the outcome, at least. As soon as I came back from my holiday, I just had to write this and get it up! Sorry for any mistakes though. Something went wrong with my laptop and I've had to write this on my Notes, which doesn't seem to pick up 50% of mistakes. Once I finish this story, I will go back and find all the mistakes in this and get rid of them! Now, that'll be a job… :L_


	43. Time

I nearly crashed through the door once I arrived. It was late, I realised, but it was a fleeting thought in my mind. I didn't care what time it was, I would have ripped the house from its very foundations if they hadn't answered. But they did and I jumped in as quickly as I could and placed Sora gently on to the settee in the main room. I almost didn't notice that it had been Xion who opened the door.

I turned to look at her and I saw a whole list of questions in her eyes, like where we had gone, where Axel was now, what had we done. But those all died away as she saw Sora, and she gave me a sad look before rushing to him and looking him over.

Above, two sets of footsteps made their way across the hall and down the stairs. Soon after, Leon and Yuffie arrived, weapons in hand.

"He's hurt badly," I informed them, not at all threatened by the knives they held inches from me. I stared pointedly at Leon. "I don't know what to do."

He swallowed back whatever he was about to say and lowered his knife. He clapped a hand on to my shoulder in a gesture of comfort, squeezing it as he walked by, and went to inspect Sora. Yuffie followed him, and no more words were spoken.

There were no questions. No demands to know what had happened when I had left, what had happened in that time, or, most importantly, what had happened to Sora. There were no comforting words, nor frustrated mutterings at the glances of the wounds on Sora's body. Nothing. And the silence was what suffocated me more than anything.

I wanted something, some sort of indication that this was going to be alright. That Sora was going to be alright. But I didn't voice my concerns, and so no answer came. Leon, Yuffie and Xion did their work, running to and from the kitchen, bringing towels, buckets of water and bandages. I watched, unsure of whether I'd be any help at all. They must have known my uncertainty, because they didn't ask me to fetch anything, but cast worried gazes towards me every once in a while.

After an hour or so, I started to feel my eyelids droop. It was only now that I knew how tired I was. I couldn't even remember the last time I had slept. I had been running on adrenaline alone for a while, and the hours were catching up to me. But I refused to sleep, not until I knew that Sora was alright.

I stepped out into the streets and leaned against the wall of the house, staring out into the darkness of the street. I was quiet, but there was a faint rumbling that reached through the floor and shook me lightly. I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what that was coming from. As I had guessed, that fight would be going on for a long while. I slid down the wall and sat with my legs held to my chest, my chin resting on my knees.

Almost impossibly, it was quieter here. Eerily quiet, as if the streets, lonely as they were, were also waiting for something to show that time hadn't actually stood still as I believed. A chill flew through, washing over me softly. I closed my eyes for a small second, giving in just a little. But I was cruelly ripped from my silent calmness by a sudden explosion to my right. I turned to look down that street and saw the flames lick up a faraway building, growing until it made the very top and could climb no more. It reached for the heavens with its black plume of smoke. The inhabitants ran out in panic, screaming their lungs out and making their way to the centre of town. Owners of nearby houses followed, clutching on to their loved ones, their fake masks, worn in the day, slipping now.

But the flames were gone as soon as they had begun. They were devoured by hundreds of little Heartless as they crawled the walls. They screeched, sending shivers up my spine. I stood up, my right hand on the wall to offer me support. As I squinted, I was able to make out two figures in the streets beneath the building, almost completely mingling with the shadows.

But they vanished too, just like the flames, and the Heartless followed. They were getting closer and closer to the town, already within the border, and I knew it was only a matter of time before their fight would cause the whole town to fall into evacuation. But the silence returned upon their leave, as if their interference had never happened.

I leaned back against the wall, rubbing my temples. I knew that Vanitas would take a lot to be brought down, and I knew I would not have been able to do it. But with this, they might just have ended up destroying the whole town as it was!

Now with the lingering fear that they might get closer, I stayed outside for a further few hours, listening as their interferences to the calm erupted around me. It didn't seem that they were getting any closer, but still I waited. It was also out of curiosity. Who was winning? I wondered. Who was losing? What could they do? What did they look like now after hours of fighting?

Years of betrayal and hatred, of anger and revenge, all piled into that one fight. Honestly, I was a little curious to watch too. What would a fight like that look like? But I stayed by the house, as if chained, waiting for news on Sora. Once I received word that he was alright, maybe then I'd venture out to see, maybe even help a little if it didn't look to be in Ventus' favour. For now, my place was here. This was not my fight. Maybe not yet.

The door clicked open, and Xion popped her head around. She gave me a tired smile, one that was almost unnoticeable. She had bags under her eyes, her hair was not brushed and I noticed then too that she still sore the clothes she must have been sleeping in.

"He's alright," she whispered immediately. "The wounds weren't as bad as they looked, but there were a lot of them. We've stopped the bleeding, and he's sleeping now. It would be best if we got him to a hospital, just to make sure. But he's alright, Roxas."

I nodded, a slight tug on one side of my mouth in a small smile. It was good to hear, but the fear, the worry – it wouldn't go away so easily.

"Want to come and have a look at him?"

I nodded again, more vigorously this time, and I hopped up. Hesitation came once I reached the door, but I pushed through it and strode in. Leon stood in the kitchen, cleaning the blood for the towels and pouring the red water down the drain. Yuffie sat in a chair set by the settee, holding onto Sora's hand. Sora lay sprawled across it, covered head to toe in rows of bandages, wearing only his trousers. His top, shoes and socks lay in a pile on the floor. He snored lightly in his sleep, and I felt my shoulders slump away the tension with ease. He no longer looked in pain, and I sighed happily.

Yuffie smiled and moved out of the chair for me to sit. I relaxed into it, immediately feeling the sleep I so needed descend on me. I turned to look at Sora one last time before I slipped away so easily.

_My dreams were what ruined my peace though. They were filled with explosions, of manic chuckling, of blood that flowed like rivers. Masks fell from the red sky, landing at my feet with such a thud that split them in half. Heartless followed me from the darkness, watching me with their piercing eyes, whispering things as soon as I turned my back to them. They crawled out at every chance and grabbed my ankles. I tripped a few times, almost falling face first into the pools of masks. They burst into flames at my touch. _

_I could hear Sora's voice, so faint beneath the other sounds that surrounded me. I ran to it, desperate to know what it was that he was trying to tell me. But no matter where I ran, it never made a difference. His voice was too far away and it drifted off further with each step I took. Then his voice was gone, and I was left alone. _

_Lightning struck in the sky above me. Its jagged yellow fingers touched the floor before me, creating a crater. I turned to my right, and it struck again. Once more I tried, then a last attempt after that, and I was then surrounded on a pedestal of crumbling rock, gazing down into the depths of nothing but a sea of Heartless. _

"_We're standing our ground."_

_I looked up. There stood Ventus, opposite me on the other side of the abyss. But he wasn't looking at me. His eyes bore into someone behind me. And there stood Vanitas, clenching his hands into fists as he glared at Ventus. _

"_What-" I began, holding out my arm, as if believing that one could help me off of this small collapsing island. But my question was lost on the surge of power that was thrown from both beings. I threw up my arms to shield my head as the wind whipped my hair, my clothes, my words around me, threatening to throw me off and into the darkness beneath me. _

_They flew through the air, meeting just above me, and they fought with all their might to hurt the other in the few seconds that they remained in the air. But as gravity took over, they plunged down into the Heartless and they were lost under the waves before I was able to even think of rescuing them. _

_I gasped, my heart beating rapidly against my chest in terror. _

"_Who are you?" came a small voice behind me. _

_Sora sat on the ledge, his legs crossed, his arms crossed and his head bowed. His hair hung over his face and he moved so little that I thought he may have been sleeping. I might have believed it, had I not heard him utter the question. _

"_What? Sora, it's me, Roxas," I replied. _

"_Roxas?" he repeated. _

_I nodded my head. _

_He turned his head up to look at me. He narrowed his eyes and replied, "Never heard of you." _

_He lunged forwards and pushed me, causing me to teeter over the edge before I plummeted. I tried to cry out for help, but no words came out. I took a deep breath as I dove into the Heartless. But it wasn't darkness that engulfed me as I had expected. I fell on soft and fluffy clouds and bounced a little as I settled. The sun, hanging low in the sky, greeted me with its warm embrace. I glanced over the side of the cloud and saw below the town that the organisation occupied. _

_But it was different. The houses had been painted bright colours, music ran through the cobbled streets, people danced together outside their houses, smiles came easy, and food had been brought, wrapped in foil or plastic and set on the tables on the corners. _

_I searched for a familiar face, maybe seeing my friends enjoying themselves down there. But they were too far away. They were like ants to me, but I knew that they must have been somewhere in the fray of the excitement. Somewhere, they were enjoying themselves while I sat on the clouds watching them. _

My eyes fluttered open and I stretched. I wasn't aware of the time, but I knew it must have been hours after I first fell asleep because I felt refreshed, a feeling that I wouldn't have had had I slept for only a few moments.

I vaguely remembered the dream I had woken up from, but the feeling of happiness lingered, overshadowing the terror that had consumed me at the start. So, I threw any worry that I probably should have taken from the dream aside and turned to look at Sora. He still slept, in the same position I had last seen him in. I stood up and glanced around. The house was dark and no one was around. They must have gone to sleep too once they were sure everything was alright.

I made myself a drink in the kitchen, my eyes quickly scanning over the wet towels and the empty bucket. I scoffed at them, aware that they had held Sora's blood only hours before. But he was fine now. I turned to look at Sora quickly, as if to make sure that he was. He mumbled in his sleep as if to assure me in return. I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

But as I brought the glass of water to my lips, something tore through me. Not pain, and not an emotion – Just _something_. It ran around my body, colliding with everything inside of me. I dropped my glass, watching as it rolled at the bottom of the sink with a small crack where my mouth had been. I gripped on to the edge, so hard that feeling left me and my knuckled turned white. As it continued to grow stronger in my body, I gasped, my eyes widening.

I hadn't noticed I was crying until I saw the tears drip into the dry sink, sliding down the plug hole. And once I did notice, they came more freely, soaking my cheeks.

My knees buckled and I leaned all of my weight on to the side of the sink. It dug into my stomach. I turned to look at Sora, who burrowed his eyebrows, wiped his face and was starting to rouse from his sleep.

I wiped frantically at my tears, turning on the tap and splashing it on my face as quickly as I could. I had no doubt that my eyes must have been red, from the crying and the rubbing, and I could do nothing about that.

"Roxas?" he grumbled.

I turned to look at him with the biggest smile I could muster and waved. "Hi, Sora!" I flinched. I sounded way too cheerful. "How are you?"

He gazed at me through narrowed eyes, trying to wipe away the sleep. "What happened?" he asked. "I felt something."

My heart hammered and my breath caught in my throat. I clenched one of my fists tightly behind me, but I kept the same fake smile painted on my lips. "Did you? Maybe it was the pain. It must have woken you up from your sleep."

He stared at me, his eyes skimming over my face, taking in my fake smile and my obviously forced words. He knew as well as I did that it wasn't the pain. He felt what I had felt, just not as strongly. He knew it wasn't pain. It was something else entirely. But he must have been too tired to take me up on it, because he waved his hand to dismiss the ready argument and rolled over, falling to sleep again quickly.

I stood with shaky legs, watching his form, feeling the tears slide down again. The fact that he had felt it, woken up because of it, was truth enough for me. My whole body was over taken by it, and I couldn't help but feel a little happy, even if the fear and the sadness danced with it.

This was the line. After all these years – these long, long years – I finally reached it. It may have only been months since I met Sora, but it was long enough. Now it was here.

I walked up to him, fell on to my knees before him, and bowed my head. My body shook, my mind raced, my breathing came out in gasps. I traced random patterns on to the carpet and wondered if this was how those before me had felt – conflicted as to whether to feel so happy and dance around, or to fall to the floor in a weeping mess of madness. I had grown so fond of Sora. All Nobodies did, despite knowing what was to come.

Honestly, now that it had come, I regretted what I was. I didn't want to leave him. But he didn't need me anymore. My purpose was gone, used up, discarded now that it was over. And I wondered how Sora felt. I wondered if he knew it was coming to an end, that soon he wouldn't even know of my existence. Would he miss me? Would there be something at the back of his head, always reminding him that there used to be someone like me once? Would he and his friends talk of someone they used to know?

I hoped not. I didn't want him to end up like DiZ, always blaming himself for something that was inevitable, something that I just _was_. It would destroy him. So I would do my best to take away his memories of me, to let him live a life that he wanted. He had saved me, giving me a purpose for my life, with some great experiences along the way. Now it was my time to give something to him.

I sighed and looked up at his back that faced me. I rested my hand on the leather of the settee, close to where his shoulder was. I could feel the connection between us, stronger than it had ever been before, but giving its last little glimmers before it would snap completely. And I knew how to do it.

"But wait a bit, Sora," I whispered. "I'm not ready to go just yet. Let me finish just a few things off first. Then we can end this."

**A/N: **_Well… There's that emotional chapter… and more to come of course. It turned out completely different from how I originally planned it, except for the ending. The dream I hadn't planned, but it just seemed to fit, and I actually had a dream quite similar last night! XD Let me know what you think, and thank you all for reading! _


	44. Knowing

He didn't wake up for another few hours. He didn't even toss or turn in his sleep. He slept soundly, still and unknowing of what was going on outside in reality. But I couldn't even stay in the same room as him.

I'd decided to wait. I wouldn't end it just yet. No. I still had things to do. But I hadn't realised that even a few hours later, the pull was growing so strong that I was unable to stay close to him. It didn't move my body physically – I wasn't like some sort of possessed human. But I found myself doubting my choice. Did I really need to wait? I could just be done with it now. I didn't really have anything I needed finished, did I?

Our connection was trying to get me to finish it now. It turned my decisions on me, trying to convince me that nothing was important right now. A few times, I almost found myself reaching to shake him awake and to begin the end. But I managed to fight against it, telling myself that it really wasn't the time, and I'd turn away. It was incredibly difficult, and I had no doubt that as the hours crawled by, it would become much more difficult. So I had to leave the house. I sat outside, as I had done while waiting for him to be tended, where the connection was a little bit weaker. I knew the best thing for me to do now would be to leave, do what I needed to do, and then come back. But I wanted to see him awake. I wanted to make sure he was alright before I left, and to assure him that he didn't need to come back for me.

It was risky, I knew. He had suspected something in my behaviour when he was only half awake. He'd spot something, and he'd feel something too. It was risky, but he'd only ask the same things later. I wouldn't even need to lie to him. It was coming to an end anyway. I wouldn't tell him the truth, but I could avoid it easily this time without fearing he would not believe me. Soon, he wouldn't have any memory of me. I didn't need to tell him anything.

As soon as Leon woke up and looked at me, he understood. He nodded, feeling the stillness, the sense of completion – like a puzzle worked out – in the air and gave me a smile as some comfort. I smiled back, but I knew he could see the small droplets of tears still lingering in the corners of my eyes.

He was the one who suggested waiting outside until Sora woke up.

Sora's voice rang through the gaps in the door, signalling his arrival into reality. "Where's Roxas?" he asked quickly, almost frantically. I heard rustling, and I knew he must have been jumping from the settee.

"He's outside."

I stood up, sighing, and made my way to the door. I could feel him getting closer, and I held my breath. My chest tightened and my knees knuckled again. But I painted a smile on my face. The door swung inwards so quickly that it should have broken its hinges. Sora stood panting, his eyes wide, fear clear in his face.

"Hey, sleepy-head," I greeted, laughing. But it was empty.

He sighed in relief and gave the tiniest of smiles I had ever seen him wear. "I thought you might have left."

"Left? Left where?"

He hesitated. I thought he might not have wanted to tell me, but it was then clear by his furrowed eyebrows and the bite of his lip that he was unsure of the answer himself. "I don't know. I just had the feeling you'd leave."

I shook my head. "I'm here. Don't worry." I reached out and gave him a small hug, one of which he returned. I thought it may have been the first time I had hugged him before. The other times, he had been the one to hug me first. Knowing that, it saddened me. Even when knowing the end was coming, I really should have spent more time with him, as friends. It was all over much too quickly.

"Yeah, you are." He hugged me tightly, as if clinging on to me. I could feel him shake a little too. He didn't understand these feelings he was having. He knew I'd leave, but he didn't know what that would mean.

I let go and I saw the disappointment in his eyes. If our purposes were this, why did it have to hurt to be ripped from each other? To come so close, to spend time together, only to be separated in the worst possible way. It was unbearable. But I wasn't the first to go through this.

"Have you had breakfast?" I asked, clutching at his shoulder in a tight hold and pulled him back into the house.

"No." He wouldn't look away from me.

"I'll make you some." I couldn't look at him.

I pushed him onto the settee before I quickly walked across into the kitchen. In my head, my thoughts began to muddle, urging me to take his memories now and let him kill me. My reasons to live just a little longer almost became lost, but I kept my mind on them at every second, desperate to remember them. I had to see Axel, Hayner and even Riku one last time. Especially Hayner.

I placed the bowl of cereal onto the table in front of him, smiling at him, but keeping my eyes on the bowl. Then I sat down opposite him, on the chair I had taken from beside him. I kept quiet, sure that I would say something if I opened my mouth.

"Roxas?"

"Yes?"

"Stay with me."

That was when I looked up. He didn't have tears in his eyes. But the look on his face was the saddest thing I had ever seen before. He looked desperate about something. And determined. What about, I didn't know, but I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"I need to go and get Axel, Hayner and Riku soon, though," I replied honestly. I knew that wasn't what he meant. He thought I was leaving, but not in the same was I knew. At my answer, he narrowed his eyes, but bowed his head. He felt stupid about what he was feeling, I could see. He didn't know where it had come from.

"That's not it," he whispered.

I clenched my eyes closed, damning myself, damning the world, hating it all. I leaned over the table, patted his shoulder, and assured him, "It'll be okay. I'll be fine."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not." He looked up, ready to argue, but I held out my hand and stopped him. "No arguing on this. You're staying here. You're wounded badly. I bet running to the door to find me hurt you, didn't it?" He rolled his eyes and I knew I was right. "So you're staying here."

"But the men in coats-"

"Are preoccupied at the moment," I cut in. "The Nobodies came not long ago. Their plan was to attack them directly, and they'll save our friends. They probably already have them now. I'll just go to get them."

"But-"

"I'll come back, Sora. You don't need to worry about that. I'll be fine." I gave him a beaming smile, one that I meant this time, as I added, "Plus, Vanitas is occupied at the moment, anyway. His fight with Ventus has been going on for ages, and doesn't look like it'll end any time soon. He can't order about those men. They'll be lost without him."

Sora stared at me intently, swallowing something that he wanted to say. I held his gaze, with difficulty, and he finally gave in with a huff. "Fine. But you remember our promise. Don't you dare do anything stupid. You come back here."

I nodded my head and stood up. "And you eat. You need your strength. You've been badly wounded," I reminded him again.

He gave a nod, and I walked out of the house, without any supplies or any warning to Leon, Yuffie or Xion, who had gone upstairs to give us space.

I just needed to be out of there. I was getting suffocated by it, that heavy feeling. It left a sickening put in my stomach. It was the first time I felt the need to be far away from Sora.

I strolled through the town, noticing the vast changes. The Heartless that had once occupied the streets were gone, dragged into the fight between the two main forces of this place. With their disappearance, the locals ventured out. For once, they didn't wear their masks. They chatted for longer than a mere greeting, gave rare smiles, laughed for a little while. They were out early, not wanting to miss the time that they could walk so freely.

They greeted me. They stopped and waved at me. It didn't matter that they barely noticed me before, because now they took the time to notice everyone.

I greeted them back. It was strange. In a place ruled by the evil, a minute of peace could bring back such happiness. It was much like my feelings at the moment – the muddled mess of feelings that formed my mind. It took me longer than it should have to arrive at the place I had last seen my friends – the tower in the centre of the town.

There were no Heartless. There were no Organisation members. It was empty, with not a sound drifting through. Without even wandering in, I knew it was empty and had been so for a while. So I sat down by the door, waiting, in hopes that someone would return or that someone would be watching now and send word.

As I had guessed, it was only ten minutes before Naminé and a few other Nobodies ran towards me. They stopped before me, smiles on their faces. I smiled back and allowed one of them to help me up.

"I was beginning to wonder where you had gotten to," Naminé said, her hand wound around my arm. "You look happier," she commented.

I nodded. "Yeah. I have Sora back."

She smiled sweetly at me, tightening her grip on me. "Is he alright?"

I nodded again. But at my lack of answer, her smile slipped and a silent question shone in her eyes. I whispered, "It's time for me."

Her eyes widened and she frowned. For a while, she said nothing, but started at me, biting her lip. Then she looked down at the floor, and I knew she must have been suppressing tears. "When?"

"Soon. I just needed to see you and the others before I go through with it."

She looked back up at me, a sad smile on her face. "Thanks, Roxas. It was nice knowing you. You were a good friend."

To anyone else, that must have sounded quite rude, as if she was giving up. But that was how it was with Nobodies. We couldn't do anything to stop each other's' demise. The best we could do was be the friends we could be, then wave goodbye and wish them luck once the time came. It was just how things happened. And hearing those words for her meant a lot to me.

I squeezed her hand and replied, "Yeah, it was nice knowing you too. I just need to see Hayner now."

"What about Terra? And the other Nobodies? They'll all want to say goodbye."

I chuckled. "I suppose I have time."

"Good." She began to tug me in the direction she had come from. "We couldn't hide back at the camp. Someone let it slip that we were there before, and we were worried that the enemies would go there after our attack."

"What happened in the attack?" She pulled me into an alley, where a door stood at the end. We scuttled through, into a dark shed with dim faulty lighting.

"We fought them back. We managed to kill one. That Seifer kid." She glanced at me, and muttered, "We had to. We couldn't leave him live."

I nodded in reluctant agreement. Poor kid. He probably hadn't even wanted to be a part of them. One of the other Nobodies lifted a hidden trap door underneath an overturned table. A ladder was uncovered, leading down into depths of darkness.

"Once he was down, the others ran. We managed to capture one." As she descended, she paused and looked up at me. "Hayner seems very interested in this one we have. Is she…?"

"Yes," I replied, following her. "She's his Original. Have you seen what she looks like?"

"I have. Pretty girl, feisty too." She giggled. "Kind of reminds me of him. She was difficult to capture."

We reached the bottom, and immediately lights burst to life to show a tunnel, wide enough to fit a house, tall enough to fit two. Cobwebs hung from the corners and dust blew in across the floor. It was cold, empty and send chills up my spine. I shivered and looked further forwards. Darkness retreated as the lights continued to flare one by one.

"What is this place?"

Naminé took my arm in hers again and pulled me along with her. "I don't know. We accidentally found it when we were looking for a place after the attack. I think it might have been a massive evacuation tunnel, made years and years ago. Probably when the town was first created. But it's been long forgotten and sealed off. Now the only entrance is through that small shed." She began to run, almost dragging me along with her as I was caught off guard. "They're all in the centre of the tunnels, which is directly underneath the centre of town. We've set up a place there."

We ran for a few more minutes, then the sound of voices, of clattering and banging filled my ears. We entered an even bigger circular centre, where dozens of beds had been set up (well, blankets on the floor, really). It was completely crowded with Nobodies, more than I had seen in the fight before. The centre split off into another five tunnels in all directions, reaching out to the far corners of the town. Darkness drifted from those, but was cut off as they reached the almost blinding light of the centre.

"They're over this way."

I was taken to my right, far on the other side of the room, where a group sat by the wall, chatting happily and laughing. Well, all but two, who glared silently at one another – one with flaming red hair and the other with fine silver.

Naminé called to them. They looked up, their eyes widened, and before I knew it, two of them pushed themselves up from the floor and flung themselves at me. I was engulfed in a mess of arms as they circled me, hugging me tightly.

"What happened?"

"Where'd he take you?"

"How's Sora?"

"Are you alright?"

I struggled, attempting to push them both off before they restricted my breathing. "Axel, Hayner, please let go before you kill me," I begged. They instantly let go, but the flow of questions never ceased. "It's fine. Sora's at Leon's and Yuffie's. He's safe. I'm fine too."

"What's happening up there? Is sounds like someone's dropping bombs!" Axel gasped.

I held up my hands. "You don't want to know. It's a fight you don't want to get involved with."

"Fight?"

I turned to Hayner. "How's your Original?"

Hayner narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "They won't let me see her. They have her held in one of the tunnels and they pushed me out so that they could interrogate her." He paused suddenly, placed both his hands on my shoulders, and came so close to me that I could feel his breath on my face. "What's up with you?"

"What?"

"You look different."

I rubbed the back of my neck. Was it really that easy to see? Looking back, it was true that it was always easy to tell when a Nobody had come to their time. But they never tried to hide it. They all had different reactions, with some crying, some laughing, some dancing and some so quiet that they could have not been there at all. It was always obvious. But now that it was my turn, it felt odd to see that others knew instantly just from a mere look at me.

It dawned on him then, and he let go of my shoulders. "Oh." He gulped, frowning and looked away. "Already?"

"Already," I confirmed. "I came back to see how you were all doing."

"Right," he muttered. "That was nice of you." He looked back up at me. Small tears burned at the bottom of his eyes. But they didn't fall.

I had grown closer to him than any other Nobody here. The insane, happy, straight forwards Hayner. The one who had only just found his Original. The one that had insisted on following Sora and me all that time back. The one who I would miss a lot. I smiled at him and ruffled his hair, much to his annoyance. "I'm not going to go without seeing you one last time right?"

"What did it feel like, when you knew?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Completion, fulfilling, satisfying," I answered. "Hard to describe. But I was happy and sad, both at the same time. You'll understand one day."

Someone called to Hayner, yelling his name. Hayner gave a nod, then turned to me. "Come with me. Come meet my Original."

"Wait, hang on, I want to talk to him too!" Axel exclaimed. But I was already gone, tugged along by yet another person for the second time today.

We rushed through a tunnel to our immediate left, and at the end, where the tunnel suddenly stopped, sat a girl on a chair, surrounded by Terra and a few of his friends. They nodded to Hayner, then retreated a little further back to give us space.

"That's her," Hayner whispered to me.

I looked over at her. Her coat had been taken off. She wore a plain orange T-shirt with black worn trousers. I saw what Naminé had meant. As she looked up, I saw that she was pretty, but she glared at me with bright green eyes. Her wavy brown her hung over her shoulders, knotted now from the struggle she must have put up.

"She acts differently around me," Hayner commented. "She's calm when we're alone. I almost got a smile from her once. She's really sweet and shy. This isn't her, not really." He lowered his voice and said even more quietly, "She even told me her name. She's called Olette. Pretty, eh?" He chuckled.

"I don't think she likes me."

"She doesn't like anyone. Just me." He let go of me and walked towards her. I watched as immediately her glare was replaced with wide calm eyes once they were turned to him. She even gave a tiny smile, one that could almost be missed. But her face relaxed, and that was hard not to miss.

"Olette, it's fine. This is my friend, Roxas. He won't hurt you."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's why he didn't try to kill me before."

"Hey, I didn't-" I began.

Hayner shook his head and laughed. "But you did start that," he argued.

She rolled her eyes again, but there was no hatred in her gesture. It was merely to keep up appearance, but she didn't fight against him. They both slipped then into comfortable conversation, as if forgetting that I was there. I leant against the wall and watched. Despite knowing what I was going through, Hayner still acted like this towards his own Original.

Don't get me wrong, that wasn't supposed to sound bitter. But I found it amazing. I acted the same. That night the Nobody girl had woken us all up crying and dancing with her Original – that was just like now. I had always seen it happen before, and even then I never once ran away from my duty to Sora. It was just odd being on the receiving end, and watching a Nobody still behave like that when I was right there, soon to be gone. It was a vicious cycle. Hayner would one day be on this side, and he would think the same as me. He would not be bitter either. It was how things were.

What had he said the first time I met him? _"Because I know it's not their fault that that has to happen."_ Hayner would never blame his Original, or life for placing him in the role he lived. I wished I was more like that. Maybe then it would have been a bit easier.

**A/N:**_ Chapters are going to get a little longer from here on until the end, I expect. For the last planned chapter, I can expect that to be the longest one in the whole story! It's definitely going to be an interesting one to write, the most challenging I expect :/ I hadn't thought I'd get this done so soon, anyway, but with the sudden heat wave in the UK, I've been keeping inside, out of threat of getting extreme sunburn… I've already got it on my face, and I haven't even been out! DX Anyway, sorry for any mistakes. I've tried to get rid of any, but I just know there are going to be some. Those tricky buggers! :D _


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